Google to give $1.25 m to Nelson Mandela Foundation

JOHANNESBURG: Google officials say they will give the Nelson Mandela Foundation $1.25 million to digitalize documents, audio recordings and film clips from Mandela's life and publish them on the internet.

Google spokesman Luke Mckend said Tuesday that the foundation will scan more than 10,000 of Mandela's personal records, including notes he wrote during his 27 years of imprisonment for his fight against apartheid. The database will be accessible for free on the internet.

The foundation's chief executive Achmat Dangor said Mandela established the foundation's memory center in 2004, hoping to increase access to documents about his life. The 92-year-old Nobel peace laureate became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and stepped down after serving one term in 1999.