Looking frail and leaning on a white cane, Nelson Mandela capped Tony Blair’s farewell tour of Africa yesterday with a glowing tribute to his record.

The two men stood side by side, holding hands, as Mr Mandela welcomed him to the “club of retired presidents”.

“I need to warn you that some of us only became active after standing down,” he teased. “I know that your energy, passion and youth mean you can still play a big role in international affairs and we look forward to the contribution you can make.”

Mr Mandela, 88, leant on the arm of his wife, Graca Machel, as he welcomed Mr Blair to his charitable foundation in a Johannesburg suburb. In a short speech he was careful to include a warm tribute to Gordon Brown, whom he called “a dear friend of Africa”.

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“I am happy that we will see commitment and passion for Africa continue. I look forward to Gordon’s premiership of Britain demonstrating the vision, leadership and energy that I know of him.”

If Mr Blair was irked at having flown thousands of miles only to hear his host sing Mr Brown’s praises, he did not show it. Indeed, he looked uncharacteristically nervous and slightly in awe of the former South Africa president.

On the eve of the Iraq war, Mr Mandela accused Mr Blair of acting like “the foreign minister of the United States”. But there was no trace of bitterness yesterday as Mr Mandela praised Mr Blair’s record. “We congratulate Prime Minister Blair on his term of office. We thank him for his support over the years and we look forward to working with him in the future,” he said.

Mr Blair mumbled a brief response before he and his wife, Cherie, were led inside for a farewell chat.

“It is an honour to stand next to President Mandela. I thank him for [showing] us that it is possible for things to change,” he said. Afterwards, Mr Blair visited Soweto, where he went to an Aids hospital and took part in a phone-in at a community radio station.

During the radio broadcast, the Prime Minister confirmed that he hoped to remain an international envoy to press for Africa's development through a monitoring group set up to report on the progress of his commission on Africa. Earlier, in a speech at a university in Johannesburg, Mr Blair challenged African leaders to embrace democracy in return for increased investment.

Donor nations in the West and African rulers faced a choice, he said. “Us, as to how far we help Africa to take the right path. Africa, as to which path to take. One is chosen by countries like South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana and many others, reinforcing economic growth with good government and the stamping out of violence and corruption; the other, the path of Zimbabwe or Sudan, where bad government and violent oppression send the county’s economy spiralling down. Our challenge is to support the good. Africa’s challenge is to eliminate the bad.”

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