The Standard Bank National Arts Festival had a proud history of turning South Africa's division and conflict into a celebration of unity and diversity, former president Nelson Mandela said in Grahamstown where he officially opened the festival on Tuesday. Thousands of people lined the streets of the small town to wave at his motorcade as it drove past. Thousands more waited for him at the Cathedral of St George where he officially cut a ribbon symbolising the start of the festival. Sporting one of his colourful silk shirts, Mandela drove the crowd into a frenzy when he performed the famous Madiba Shuffle to the strains of the African Jazz Pioneers' "Viva Madiba".