Anti-apartheid icon's soft-pink-coloured home is where one of the most important journeys in the world started.

Every day the president's office drip-feeds information on the health of Nelson Mandela.

What a change from when I came here three years ago! Back then virtually nobody had heard of us. Out of those who did, one tried to bomb our offices several years ago.

Evacuated from central Cairo by the military, and driven to a 5-star hotel with my bags on top of an army tank, was the climax to an extraordinary and surreal fortnight.

<P>Reports of&nbsp;violent rally over unfair pay casts shadow over World Cup games&nbsp;in South Africa.</P>