Nelson Mandela's body moves for public view after funeral in Johannesburg
NELSON Mandela's casket made its journey through Pretoria, arriving to where he will lie in state for three days as people sang for him.
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NELSON Mandela's flag-draped casket made a solemn journey through the streets of Pretoria, arriving at the seat of South Africa's government where he will lie in state for three days.
A black hearse phalanxed by 16 motorcycle outriders rolled out of the city's 1 Military Hospital onto streets lined with flag-waving South Africans who formed a public guard of honour.
"I never met Mandela, so this is my only chance and it's important I pay my respects. I'm South African - I have to be here," said 28-year-old Vaughan Motshwene.
Some cheered but many were tearful, aware that Mandela's death on Thursday aged 95, opened a new chapter in South African history.
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SEE MANDELA'S BODY
"It feels like the end of an era. All the opportunities I've had growing up that my parents never had, Madiba gave me that," said government employee Faaiqia Hartley, 27.
"He gave all of us an opportunity to be the best we could be." The cortege travelled briskly, arriving less than an hour later at Union Buildings, the seat of South African government.
The casket was unloaded by eight pallbearers representing the branches of the armed forces in full uniform.
From there it was carried up the steps toward the towering acropolis of beige freestone, where nearly two decades ago Mandela was sworn in as the country's first black president, signifying the rebirth of this long-troubled nation.
Trailing behind the coffin was Mandela's oldest grandson, Mandla Mandela, his manifest grief a poignant reminder that while the nation lost a hero, Mandela's family lost a father, grandfather and husband.
Mandela's open coffin was placed on a cubic platform in the building's amphitheatre, soon to be renamed in his honour, where it he will viewed by family, heads of state, celebrities and the general public for three days.
Leaders like Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, South African President Jacob Zuma and others passed by the casket in two lines. Four junior naval officers in white uniforms kept watch. Celebrities like U2 singer Bono and Naomi Campbell also paid their respects. So did F.W. de Klerk, the last president of white rule who shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela for ending the apartheid era.
Mandela's widow Graca Machel, his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and other family members also viewed his body.
Some appeared lost for a moment looking down at Mandela. South Sudan's Salva Kiir Mayardit stood transfixed before removing his trademark black cowboy hat and crossing himself.
Mandela's family said they were humbled by the tens of thousands of people who braved terrible weather to attend the South African anti-apartheid icon's memorial service.
"We were particularly humbled by the fact that thousands of people braved cold and wet weather to honour Madiba and stand by us," the family said in a statement. "As the Mandela family, we take this opportunity today to extend our gratitude to those who honoured Madiba with their presence during the national memorial service."
Two military officers clad in white dress uniform stood guard at each entrance with swords pointing downward.
Mandela's final journey through Pretoria is laden with symbolism and replete with landmarks that carry resonance in his life.
The procession passed the central prison where he was jailed in 1962 for incitement and leaving the country illegally.
Another landmark is the Palace of Justice, the court where Mandela famously stood trial in 1963-64 for treason and sabotage with 10 other co-defendants.
His conviction and subsequent life sentence marked the beginning of a 27-year jail stint, from which he finally emerged in 1990 as the structure of apartheid crumbled around its white minority supporters.
The cortege will pass near the one-time home of Paul Kruger, the father of the Afrikaner nation.
"Oom (Uncle) Paul" was the president of the Transvaal, leading a resistance movement against British rule during the first Anglo-Boer War, which began in 1880.
That Afrikaner nationalism later morphed into support for the National Party, which introduced apartheid.
The funeral procession will be repeated for three days, ending each time at the Union Buildings - the seat of government where previous presidents had signed aspects of the apartheid system into law.
The public will be allowed to view the casket each afternoon, before Mandela's body is transported to his boyhood home of Qunu in the Eastern cape for its eventual burial on Sunday.
The lying in state is expected to be a sombre, subdued affair compared to Tuesday's celebratory memorial service in Soweto - the crucible of the anti-apartheid movement.
For many, Mandela - even a frail, aged and retired Mandela - represented, while he was alive, a moral beacon that retained the promise of better times ahead.
Current President Jacob Zuma was roundly booed by large portions of the crowd at Tuesday's memorial service, a sign of growing impatience with Mandela's successors to deliver on promises of equality and prosperity.
Two decades after the racist apartheid regime was consigned to history, millions of black South Africans remain poor, unemployed and without formal housing in a society that is among the world's most unequal.
THOUSANDS FAREWELL MANDELA AT MEMORIAL
UNDER heavy skies but with spirits soaring, thousands of people converged on Soweto to say an ecstatic and emotional farewell to the man ranked as the greatest cultural icon in modern history, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
Free world and communist leaders shared a podium to acknowledge the legacy of reconciliation that Nelson Mandela gifted to South Africa and the world.
He was remembered today as a man who not only freed South Africa from the crushing rule of Apartheid to become its first free President, but for his remarkable act of granting forgiveness to the whites who sent him to prison for 27 years.
As Mandela's huge family took their seats, the crowd welcomed them, singing: "Mandela, you're my president."
DOWNLOAD THE FULL PROGRAM OF TODAY'S MEMORIAL (PDF)
There were big welcomes for former South African president Thabo Mbeki, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Mandela's second wife Winnie, and jeers for current South African President Jacob Zuma.
For US President Barack Obama, there was outright rapture.
Mr Obama thanked South Africa for sharing Mandela with the world, and said the politician had taught us the power of action, but also the importance of ideas and reason.
"It is hard to eulogise any man ... how much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation towards justice,'' Mr Obama told the crowd and a worldwide TV and internet audience.
The US president compared Mandela to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln and urged the world to act on Mandela's legacy by fighting inequality, poverty and racism. He said progress in the US and South Africa mustn't cloud the fact there's still work to be done.
Mr Obama called Mandela the last great liberator of the 21st century, and says he thinks about how to apply Mandela's lessons to himself as a man and as president.
"And while I will always fall short of Madiba's example, he makes me want to be a better man," Mr Obama said.
After a mass choir led the crowd in the national anthem, followed by an interfaith prayer, it was said that Mandela's long walk was finally over.
Andrew Mlangeni, who was sentenced with Mandela at the Rivonia trial in 1964, and shared the neighbouring cell with him on Robben Island, said Mandela touched his heart, soul and life.
"Nelson Mandela was an inspiration to millions with his sacrifice," he said. "He gave them hope when there was none."
As Archbishop Desmond Tutu sat with the last Apartheid leader, FW de Klerk, the sense of history, and the part Mandela played in it, was overwhelming in FNB Stadium.
Paying their respects were 91 serving leaders and members of royal families, and 10 former heads of state. The guests included Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the UK's David Cameron.
Most African heads of state attended, even Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe, who represents everything Mandela ever fought against.
Rain kept many people away and the FNB Stadium did not fill, as expected. But the place heaved with energy as people danced, sang and chanted for the man they call Madiba, who died on Thursday evening aged 95.
Old songs from during the anti-Apartheid struggle were revived and sung over and over, including one that asked exiled African National Congress leader Oliver Tambo to go to former Apartheid president PW Botha and ask him to release Mandela.
"This day means everything to me," said Kagiso, 22, from the nearby Soweto township. "Madiba sacrificed his entire life for me."
Laila Ncwana, 26, said Mandela's passing marked the end of a special era in her country's leadership. "Some of us were too young to know the harsh realities of Apartheid, but we know what he did for us," she said.
"It's very emotional - happy and sad at the same time."
ANC provincial leader Dakota Legoete said he met Mandela shortly after he was released from prison in 1990. "He addressed us as members of the ANC Youth League and asked us to go to school.
"He said that was the most important thing we could do to prepare to run the country."
South Africans regarded the rain as an auspicious sign that marked the great man's passing. "Rain is a good sign," said Mduduzi Madondo, a hotel worker. "Life is rain. The rain shows his power. It is both renewal and it lets him rest in peace."
Mandela was a lawyer and revolutionary who campaigned and plotted sabotage against the reviled Apartheid regime. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1964.
He made perhaps his most famous statement from the dock at his trial, which summed up his worldview.
"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
"It is an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president who succeeded Mandela, got a rousing cheer as he entered the stands. French President Francois Hollande and his predecessor and political rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, arrived together. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon waved and bowed to spectators who sang praise for Mandela, seen by many South Africans as the father of the nation.
"I would not have the life I have today if it was not for him,'' said Matlhogonolo Mothoagae, a postgraduate marketing student who arrived hours before the stadium gates opened. "He was jailed so we could have our freedom.''
Rohan Laird, the 54-year-old CEO of a health insurance company, said in the stadium that he grew up during white rule in a "privileged position'' as a white South African and that Mandela helped whites work through a burden of guilt.
"His reconciliation allowed whites to be released themselves,'' Lair said. "I honestly don't think the world will see another leader like Nelson Mandela.''
FULL LIST OF VIPS AT MEMORIAL BELOW
Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, made her first public appearance since his death as she arrived helped along by friends at the stadium.
Wearing a black coat and dress, the Mozambican human rights campaigner linked arms as she made her way slowly into the bowels of the building.
Machel barely left her husband's bedside in the final six months of his life.
She maintained a near around-the-clock bedside vigil during the 84 days Mandela spent in a Pretoria hospital and the subsequent three months he spent at home before he died on December 5.
One of her rare public appearances came a month ago, when she was spotted at the premiere of the movie Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom tracing her husband's journey from prisoner to president.
MANDELA'S WOMEN BY HIS SIDE AT END
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SOUTH AFRICA HOSTS WORLD LEADERS FOR FUNERAL
Outside FNB Stadium for Nelson Mandela memorial. Grey sky. Police huddled. Flags at half-mast. Thousands of people, some singing in the rain
— David Smith (@SmithInAfrica) December 10, 2013
#Mandela after 6 hrs outside, sections begin to fill. "We will meet at the sunset" is a common chant filling stadium pic.twitter.com/BHUoCK6Fzh
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) December 10, 2013
#Mandela Rain falling, winds blowing & its chilly. But a hurricane wouldn't stop mourners today. Everyone enters FNB with a smile @eNCAnews
— Nickolaus Bauer (@NICKolausBAUER) December 10, 2013 Mourners began gathering before dawn, desperate to secure one of the precious first-comer tickets that would allow them to join nearly 100 heads of state and government in paying tribute to Mandela's life and legacy.
Despite the profound sense of national sorrow triggered by Mandela's death, the mood was upbeat, with people determined to celebrate the memory of one of the 20th century's towering political figures.
"This is once in your life. This is history,'' said Noma Kova, 36. "I didn't want to watch this on TV,'' she said.
Only 80,000 were to be allowed inside the stadium, with others forced to watch at home or on giant screens set up in three "overflow'' stadiums in Johannesburg with a combined capacity of 120,000.
Amazing atmosphere in stadium where Mandela memorial will be held. Thousands already in stands chanting and singing
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) December 10, 2013
"This isn't a day for leaders. It's a day for the poor and oppressed. Mandela fought for social justice" Jay Naidoo with crowds in stadium.
— andrew harding (@BBCAndrewH) December 10, 2013
In African culture it is regarded as a blessing when it showers during a period of bereavement. - http://t.co/g4gezLNRJn #MandelaMemorial
— amanda meade (@meadea) December 10, 2013
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, comparing him to Mahatma Gandhi and Soviet dissident and Nobel prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
"Without doubt he was a great friend of our people,'' Putin told reporters as he visited the South African embassy in Moscow to honour the memory of the anti-apartheid icon and Russia's "great friend''.
The Russian strongman signed a condolence book and called Mandela "a great humanist'' who can be compared to Gandhi and Solzhenitsyn, who was jailed by the Soviet authorities.
"It was our country - the Soviet Union - that in the most active manner supported South Africa and other countries in Africa in their fight against racial segregation, their fight for justice and democracy,'' Mr Putin told reporters.
A memorial service was being held Tuesday in South Africa for the anti-apartheid icon, with close to 100 world leaders attending.
Russia was represented at the ceremony by Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the parliament's upper house.
Makaziwe Mandela told the BBC that her father was surrounded by family before dying on Thursday aged 95.
"Until the last moment he had us,'' she told BBC journalist Komla Dumor.
"The children were there, the grandchildren were there, Graca was there, so we are always around him and even at the last moment, we were sitting with him on Thursday the whole day.''
She said the former South African president's illness had been "a very long painful period'', but called the week before his death "a wonderful time''.
Security was tight around the venue, with military helicopters flying overhead, and newly-recruited marshals in bright jackets helping police keep the crowds moving.
Many were wrapped in the South African flag or yellow-green coloured shawls printed with the slogan "Mandela Forever'' and portraits of their hero.
When the gates opened, they rushed in to the stadiums, searching for the best vantage point on the sloped terracing overlooking the field.
As the stands filled up, the physical structure seemed to undulate as the crowd bobbed and danced en masse, like a giant, confused Mexican wave.
A central stage where, later in the day, speakers including the US and Cuban presidents were to address millions watching around the world, appeared to be protected by a glass shield.
Some 70 kilometres away at the Waterkloof air force base, journalists watched as plane after plane swooped down bringing in the world leaders, from China, Germany, Brazil and every corner of the globe.
Thousands of mourners had used a free train service from central Johannesburg to reach the stadium, mixing excitedly together on the platform and in the compartments - men and women of all ages and races.
"I am going to the memorial to be closer to the national mood, to come out of my bubble,'' said white Afrikaans speaker Marcel Boezaart, 26.
Nigerian Fola Folowosele, 27, had been visiting friends in South Africa when the news that Mandela had died broke last Thursday.
For Folowosele, there was never any doubt in his mind that he would stay to be part of the week-long state funeral that followed.
"He's perhaps Africa's greatest son, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,'' he said.
Some in the crowd recalled treasured moments when they had seen or, in some cases, even met or spoken to the man they had come to remember.
"When you say Mandela, you are talking South Africa,'' said Julenda Ntlekoana, a nurse who met Mandela when he visited her Johannesburg hospital after he retired from office.
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FULL LIST OF VIPS AT MEMORIAL
- Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
- Angolan Vice President Manuel Vincent.
- Argentinian Acting President Amado Boudou.
- Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
- Bahamas' Prime Minister Perry Christie.
- Bangladesh's President Abdul Hamid.
- Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo and King Philippe.
- Benin's President Boni Yayi.pe- Botswana's President Seretse Ian Khama.
- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and three of her predecessors, including Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
- British Prime Minister David Cameron, deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Sir John Major and Gordon Brown.
- Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza.
- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and three of his predecessors.
- Chadian President Idriss Deby.
- Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao.
- Comoros' President Ikiliou Dhoinine.
- Congo's President Joseph Kabila.
- Croatian President Ivo Josipovic.
- Cuban President Raul Castro.
- Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout.
- Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Prince Frederik.
- Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh.
- East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
- El Salvador's Foreign Minister Jaime Miranda.
- Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
- Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
- European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
- Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.
- French President Francois Hollande and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.
- Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba.
- Gambian President Yahya Jammeh.
- German President Joachim Gauck.
- Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama.
- Guinean President Alpha Conde.
- Guyana's President Donald Ramotar.
- Haitian President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.
- Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
- Irish President Michael Higgins.
- Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
- Ivory Coast's President Allasane Ouattara.
- Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
- Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
- Jordanian Queen Rania and Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.
- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
- Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
- Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.
- Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
- Malawi's President Joyce Banda.
- Malaysian Energy Minister Maximus Ongkili.
- Mauritius' Prime Minister Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
- Mexican President Pena Nieto.
- Morocco's Prince Moulay Rachid.
- Mozambique's President Armando Emilio Guebuza.
- Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
- Nepalese Foreign Minister Madhav Prassad Ghimire.
- The Netherlands' Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and King Willem-Alexander.
- Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou.
- Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.
- Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Crown Prince Haakon.
- Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
- Philippines' Vice President Jejomar Binay.
- Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski and former President Lech Walesa.
- Portuguese President Cavaco Silva.
- Saudi-Arabia's Deputy Prime Minister Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
- Senegalese President Macky Sall.
- Serbian President Tomislav Nicolic.
- Seychelles President James Michel.
- Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak.
- Slovenia's President Borut Pahor.
- South Korean Prime Minister Hongwon Chung.pe- South Sudan's President Salva Kir Mayardi.
- Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Prince Felipe.
- Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
- Sudanese Vice President Bakri Hassan Salih.
- Suriname's President Desire Delan Bouterse.
- Swaziland's Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini.
- Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Princess Victoria.
- Swiss President Ulrich Maurer.
- Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
- Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
- Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki.
- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
- UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay.
- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessor Kofi Annan.
- US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as well as former presidents George W Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.
- Uruguay's Foreign Minister Luis Almagro.
- Vatican official Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana.
- Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.
- Zambia's President Michael Sata.
- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
- with Paul Toohey, wires
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