The forum was set up in 2006, with Mandela as its patron, and is chaired by former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano.
Leaders - including Kenneth Kaunda, who headed Zambia during nearly 30 years of one-party rule, and Namibian leader Sam Nujoma - are invited to join the forum "based on their democratic credentials", such as a democratic "entry and exit" to their presidency.
But a small charter airline, Fastjet, has laid criminal charges with the South African police, alleging that the forum's executive secretary, Dr John Tesha, lied to the firm to get it to fly five former presidents to Liberia for the country's independence day celebrations in July 2008.
Fastjet CEO Shaun Roseveare says Tesha told him he had the support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the WK Kellogg Foundation in the US, "which gave us a lot of confidence that we were dealing with a credible organisation".
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