SOUTH AFRICA, Dec 8 ― South Africa prepared for a week of events to commemorate the life of former President Nelson Mandela, culminating in a funeral at his childhood village of Qunu that’s expected to draw thousands of dignitaries.
President Jacob Zuma called on South Africans to hold prayers today for Mandela, who died on December 5 at the age of 95. The nation’s first black leader had been ill for about a year, most recently with a lung infection, and died peacefully at his Johannesburg home surrounded by his family, Zuma said.
Mourners have flocked to Mandela’s home since his death to pay their respects, leaving flowers and messages, while some sang and danced. Posters bearing the logo of the ruling African National Congress were attached to lamp posts on the roads leading to Mandela’s property, while hawkers set up stores selling green and gold rugby shirts bearing the image of Mandela clenching his fist.
“He has served us with such integrity, did so much for us and it’s time for him to go,” Michael Mpanza, 48, who works in the national airline’s finance department, said in an interview outside Mandela’s home in the suburb of Houghton. “We celebrate all the things that he’s done for us. I’ll stay here for as long as my legs can carry me.”
Mandela’s body will lie in state from December 11 to December 13 at the government’s executive headquarters at the Union Buildings in the capital, Pretoria.
Lining streets
Mourners will be allowed to file past his open casket, which will be protected by a transparent covering, while a static camera feed will be located at the venue for broadcast, Neo Momodu, a spokeswoman for the Government Communication and Information Service, told reporters in Johannesburg yesterday.
People will be allowed to line the streets along the route when Mandela’s remains are transported to and from the morgue to the Union Buildings over the three days, Momodu said.
Mandela encouraged reconciliation after becoming South Africa’s first black president in 1994, when white majority-rule, or apartheid, ended. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 together with F.W. de Klerk, the last white president, for negotiating a peaceful end to apartheid.
The “son of the soil made time for the kings and the queens, the poor and the rich, the great and small, ex-political prisoners of every persuasion” Themba Matanzima, a spokesman for the Mandela family, told reporters in Johannesburg yesterday. “The pillar of the family is gone. But in our hearts and souls he’ll always be with us.”
Celebrating life
A special parliamentary sitting is planned tomorrow in Cape Town, followed the next day by a memorial service at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, the 94,000 seat venue where the final of the 2010 Soccer World Cup took place. About 9,000 mourners are expected to attend the funeral in Qunu, located about 900 kilometres south of Johannesburg, according to the government.
“We should, while mourning, also sing at the top of our voices, dance and do whatever we want to do, to celebrate the life of this outstanding revolutionary,” Zuma, who plans to attend a church service in Johannesburg today, said in a statement. “Let us sing for Madiba,” he said, referring to Mandela’s clan name.
Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will join President Barack Obama on his trip to South Africa this week to attend memorial events, according to their spokesmen.
Visitors yesterday packed out a ferry to visit Robben Island, a rocky outcrop off the coast of Cape Town, where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison and is now a museum. A tent was set up outside the mainland ferry station at the city’s Waterfront shopping centre with a photo of Mandela, a candle and condolence books.
‘Great man’
“We should never forget about this great man,” Lucas Letsholo, 65, who runs a transport business in the northwest town of Rustenburg, said after buying tickets to visit the island. “Our children must also know what he did. He was the one who made South Africa what it is today.”
After a single five-year term as president, Mandela became a champion in the fight against AIDS, disclosing that one of his sons died from the disease. He retired from public life in 2004 and was last seen publicly at the football World Cup in Johannesburg three years ago.
“You just have to celebrate his life,” Godfrey Mamashela, a 28-year-old engineer, said as he waited to write a message of condolence at the entrance to Johannesburg’s Carlton Centre shopping mall. “I’m just going to say thank you. I don’t think I would be where I am today if it weren’t for him.” ― Bloomberg
