Former South African president Nelson Mandela has called off a historic return to the prison from which he walked to freedom 20 years ago.
The decision to abandon his appearance at the celebrations outside the Victor Verster Prison came after a row with his family - including ex-wife Winnie - over how to manage the 91-year-old's movements.
Local media suggested the family were concerned at how 'frail' the leader is. His absence from the event is certain to spark speculation about Mr Mandela's health.
The former African National Congress leader was released from prison on this day in 1990 in a decision that heralded the South Africa's decision to dismantle Apartheid.
Mr Mandela, who was 71 at the time, had spend 27 years behind bars on Robben Island.
Today South Africans are celebrating how far they have come since he took his first steps out of the prison.
Thousands gathered for commemorations at what was known in 1990 as Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town.
A re-enactment had been planned of the moment Mandela, hand-in-hand with his then-wife Winnie, walked free.
But now Winnie Mandela, with other leaders of the ANC including current South African president Jacob Zuma, are set to lead the 500-yard march from the gates of the prison instead.
Reports claimed that the row over Mr Mandela's appearance was betwen Winnie, her daughter Zindzi, and other members of the family including his current wife Graca Machel.
'Something very strange has been going on,' The Times quoted a source as saying.
'Wild horses would not keep WInnie away from an event like that.
'Everyone knows that if Mandela himself went, front-page news was guaranteed.
'Others would be jealous, but he is very frail, and it is difficult to stage-manage an event like that - whereas to manoeuvre him into the National Assembly is relatively easy in comparison.'
Mr Mandela is still due to appear at the National Assembly for the official opening of Parliament, timed to coincide with the celebrations, tonight.
Cyril Ramaphosa, a leader in Mandela's African National Congress, said: 'We knew that his freedom meant that our freedom had also arrived.'
Just four years after Mandela's release, South Africans held their first all-race elections, making Mandela their first black president.
His ANC has reduced poverty, built houses and delivered water, electricity and schools to blacks who had been without under apartheid.
But needs remain great.
The celebrations came as a senior Labour MP and former trade union leader today called on David Cameron to apologise for his visit to Apartheid-era South Africa.
Mr Cameron acknowledged his party's 'mistakes' over South Africa when he visited former President Mandela in 2006.
But a biography published last year disclosed that he visited the country as the guest of anti-sanctions lobbyists in 1989, when the ANC leader was still in jail.
Conservative spokesmen said at the time that the visit was a chance for Mr Cameron to 'see for himself' what conditions in South Africa were like, and noted that he met anti-Apartheid campaigners and opposition politicians while in the country.
But former anti-Apartheid campaigners including Sheffield Central MP Richard Caborn and ex-TUC general secretary Norman Willis today wrote to the Tory leader to demand an apology.
'Your trip, paid for by lobbyists against sanctions, was a long time ago,' they wrote.
'But it was then, and is now, a question of values and judgement.
'Since the details of this trip became public, you have refused to comment on it, refused to explain why you had to keep it quiet and refused to apologise for your actions.
'We hope that on the anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release, you will set the record straight and do what is right.'
A pedestrian passes a handprint mural of Nelson Mandela in Cape Town today
adiba Day: South Africans wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Mandela's image celebrate today - but Mandela himself was forced to cancel his appearance
A crowd of ANC supporters celebrates outside the gates of Drakenstein Correctional Centre (formerly Victor Verster Prison) today
ANC supporters cheer outside the prison today - but they are set for disappointment with Mr Mandela cancelling his appearance
Celebrations: ANC supporters raise their fists in an imitation of Mandela's victory salute as they stand beneath a statue of the leader outside the prison where he spent 27 years
The end of apartheid: Left, the historic moment that Mandela was to re-enact today as he walked to freedom from prison in 1990. It was this re-enactment that was cancelled today after the row with Mandela's family over his health. Right, Mandela with current wife Graca Machal in April last year
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