For all the obliteration of the archaeological evidence of Mandela's early days little seems to have changed in Mvezo and in Qunu, the district where he subsequently grew up. What change there is, is largely of his making.

And on the other side of the main road to the coast, which bisects Qunu, there is a face-brick bungalow where he plans to retire. With its security fences and guard-house it looks a little like a prison, which is what it is in a curious way. When Mandela made known his wish to end his days where he began them, the tribe towhich he belongs allocated him 98 hectares of tribal land and a leading Johannesburg architect set about planning an appropriate retirement home. But the architect never got the commission; word came from Mandela that he had grown fond of the gaol house in the grounds of Victor Verster prison, from which he had been released at the end of his glorious incarceration. So a faithful replica was built for him at Qunu.

Mandela often talks wistfully of his plans to retire to Qunu, spinning out his golden years reading and playing with his grandchildren. But there must be some suspicion as to whether the dream will ever be realised. Since his re-discovery of love, in the person of Graca Machel, he has bought another house in the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Houghton. The widow of the former Mozambique president enjoys sophisticated tastes and the purchase of the Houghton house bears the hallmarks of a woman who considers a prison house a less than desirable setting for the spinning of one's golden years.

Alsothere have been reports from unnanmed sources that Mandela will marry Machel on his 80th birthday this weekend. Presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana rejected the reports as rumour that had been ``circulating for a while''. But according to The Star newspaper, the ceremony was due to take place at Mandela's private residence in Houghton, Johannesburg on his birthday on Saturday. The Chief Magistrate of the city had been asked to officiate, the publication said, while the Department of Home Affairs had been asked to sort out formalities around Machel's status as a Mozambican citizen.

The 52-year-old Machel is the widow of former Mozambican President Samora Machel. The Star said Mandela's office had been reluctant to release details of his programme on Saturday, saying only that he would celebrate his birthday with his family at his private Houghton residence.

But the Qunu house will at least provide a material focus for future generations, seeking some evidence of a life which is destined forlegend.

Other tangible records of Mandela's life are in the offing. There has in fact been much squabbling at different levels of government over plans to build a liberation museum in his honour.

The issue now hotly debated is where the museum should be sited; in Mvezo, Qunu, or 20 km away in the Transkei capital of Umtata. Mvezo can probably be ruled out; in a territory renowned for its potholes the road to Mandela's birthplace stands particularly blessed. The pastoral beauty of Qunu should perhaps be spared architectural tributes to its most famous resident leaving Umtata which complains, with some justification, of post-liberation neglect.

Umtata has developed little more than an air of shabby charm since Mandela assumed presidency in 1994. The area's tourist potential was blighted by the gang rape of a party of British and New Zealand tourists in 1995. Umtata has little to lure them back and is hoping the Mandela memorabilia will do the trick. Or his legacy definitely will. The moment produces theman and Mandela will be remembered above all for that moment on May 11, 1994, when he took the salute from the armed forces in the forecourt of the Union Building; one man, armed with 27 years of silence, destroyed an ideology.