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| Historic figure: Thousands of people are paying tribute to South Africa 's first black president |
Nelson Mandela's flag-draped casket has started its final journey today as a South African military guard of honour escorted his hearse to the state funeral in the remote village where the anti-apartheid icon grew up.
Around 5,000 guests, including the Prince of Wales, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson and the American civil rights activist Jesse James, at the service in his hometown of Qunu in Eastern Cape province this morning, before a private, smaller burial.
After 10 days of mourning ceremonies, including the massive stadium memorial in Johannesburg and three days of his body laying in state in Pretoria, representatives from the army, navy and air force marched up the dirt road to the Mandela family compound.
Anti-apartheid leader and South Africa's first black President died in his Johannesburg home on December 5, at the age of 95.
The current president of his country, Jacob Zuma told mourners Madiba, as he was adoringly called, was 'a fountain of wisdom, a pillar of strength and a beacon of hope for all those fighting for a just and equitable world order.’
Final journey: The coffin carrying former South African President Nelson Mandela is escorted into his state funeral service in Qunu this morning
Gathered to remember Madiba: South Africa's president Jacob Zuma (2nd left), Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Mandela (left), and the widow of Mandela, Graca Machel (3rd left), sit by his coffin
Embrace: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who initially claimed he had not been invited to the funeral, hugs former president Thabo Mbeki
Respect: Candles are lit under a portrait of Nelson Mandela before his funeral. One for every year of his life
Honor: A gun salute is fired as the funeral procession nears the Mandela family compound
as the funeral procession nears the Mandela family compound
Dignitaries: Prince Charles, right, arrives for the state funeral on Sunday
on Sunday
Mourners: US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, centre, her husband Stedman Graham, left, and English businessman Richard Branson, right, watching the funeral service
Tradition: Mandela's casket, covered in the nation's flag, was placed on a cattle skin as the service combined elements of traditional and state funerals
Display: The coffin of former South African President Nelson Mandela is seen draped in a South African national flag during his funeral in his ancestral village of Qunu
State funeral: Mandela's coffin is carried into the white tent for the service
Support: African National Congress supporters chant before the start of the funeral
Dignitaries: Anti-apartheid activist and friend Ahmed Kathrada, right, with former South Africa president Thabo Mbeki
As the state funeral got underway, the national anthem, God Bless Africa, was performed. The anthem is sung in five languages - three African as well as Afrikaans and English.
Deputy leader of the ANC Cyril Ramaphosa spoke at the funeral, explaining that in accordance with cultural traditions, they planned to lay Mandela to rest at noon 'When the sun is at hits highest and shadows are at its shortest'.
He told the mourners he agreed with president Jacob Zuma, who called Mandela South Africa's greatest son: 'Indeed today, the person who lies here today is South Africa's greatest son.'
Ramaphosa also welcomed royalty and presidents from Africa and around the world, including Prince Charles, and the Prince of Monaco.
When Chief Ngangamhlaba Matanzima, a cousin and spokesman for the Mandela family addressed the service he criticised those who had booed President Zuma during the memorial at the stadium. He added that the fake sign language interpreter had been an embarrassment to the nation.
Wearing a leopard skin to show his status as a chief, Matanzima asked the medical team who cared for Mandela to stand while they were applauded.
The next speaker was Ahmed Kathrada, a friend and anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned alongside Mandela on Robben Island for more than 20 years.
He spoke fondly of his last meeting with Mandela, and how it brought back memories of when they first met 67 years ago, when he was a 'tall, healthy, strong man. The boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded the pick and shovel ... and vigorously exercised every morning.'
United in grief: Mandela's widow Graca Machel, above, and his former wife Winnie, below, arrived holding hands and sat together for the service
Traditional: Mandla Mandela right, grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela, during his grandfather's funeral
His final journey to his farm in the sleepy village of Qunu, his ancestral home in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape, lasted all day.
'As everyone here would see it, the world's most famous prisoner, this country's first black president, is now home,' BBC correspondent Mike Woolridge tweeted.
Final goodbye: The flag-draped casket of South Africa's first black president arrives in Mandela's village
Coming home: A parade of servicemen lead the casket to the funeral
Home at last: Military officers and Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela, rear, accompany the casket of the former South African President as it arrives in Qunu
Journey's end: The hearse carrying the coffin of former South African president Nelson Mandela passes by the tent dome set up in Qunu for his funeral
Tradition: Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela, right, watches as local chiefs escort the lion skin draped casket of former South African President as it arrives at the Mandela residence in Qunu
Winnie Mandela (left), ex-wife of former South African President, and Graca Macel, widow of Mandela, wipe away tears as his flag-draped coffin arrives at the Mthata airport
In an operation led by the military, the journey began at dawn at Pretoria’s air force base Waterkloof, where 1,000 members of the ANC gave him an exuberant send-off, with singing and dancing beneath a hangar decked out in the party colours of green, black and gold.
Accompanied by family members, tribal elders and senior government figures, the coffin was then flown 550 miles to Mthatha airport, about 20 miles from Qunu.
Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, and his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela travelled separately from the coffin, in accordance with tribal tradition, and were seen comforting each other as it arrived.
A military guard of honour stands to attention at the Mandela family's homestead in Qunu. Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died in Johannesburg on December 5 at age 95
From the airport, a hearse carried Mandela through the town, where crowds lined the route ten deep, then along Nelson Mandela Road and into the open countryside of green hills and red-flowering Cape Aloe.
There were helicopters, armoured personnel vehicles, expensive cars – which all seemed to have blue lights, whether they contained police officers or not – and an endless stream of motorcycle outriders, some in white uniforms.
Just before 4pm the hearse swept down a gentle slope overlooking a restful scene: the hills and valleys where Mandela roamed as a boy, gathering wild honey, stick-fighting with friends and herding cattle.
Women hold ANC flags and banners as the long convoy bringing Mandela's body home finally arrives in Qunu. As police and military helicopters buzzed overheard, mourners broke into the South African national anthem as the cortège appeared
A last look at the father of the nation: Locals take photos as Mandela's hearse nears Qunu, a small hamlet in South Africa's Eastern Cape province where he grew up
‘Madiba is coming home,’ is how 13-year-old Siyathemba Nkunzi, watching with his mother, put it.
The crowd linked hands at the sides of the freshly tarmacked road and mouthed goodbyes as the hearse passed by. Some whistled with excitement. But no one cheered, no one screamed.
Farther up the highway a group of children busied themselves slaughtering a sheep. Qunu was celebrating the return of its revered son.
The military here relinquished control of proceedings and the elders took over. Inside Mandela’s peach-coloured farmhouse, a centuries-old ceremony was performed. The most senior elder ‘spoke to the body’ and, to ensure the spirit of the anti-apartheid hero would enter the next world untroubled, apologised for any past disagreements.
Hero: A woman raises her fist in salute as she watches the hearse carrying her country's first black president drive by on the way to his final resting place
Locals cheers as Mandela arrives: Iit was escorted by an enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles, many flashing emergency lights, arriving at about 4pm local time after going past cheering crowds who had lined the route to pay their respects
Incense was burned and the body was covered in the skin of a cow slaughtered that day. ‘A normal person from his tribe would be covered in a black and white blanket, but the cow skin is reserved for a man of great stature,’ said a villager.
A small branch from an olive tree was kept near the body. It was brought by air from Qunu soon after Mandela died on December 5 at his home in the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Houghton. It was used by an elder to address his spirit and persuade him to return to Qunu.
Mandela’s house in the village is modest and contains souvenirs of his life since he was freed. Dominating one wall is an outsized portrait of himself and Graca.
Loved by the people: The motorcade transporting Mandela's body passes through crowds of mourners gathered in the town of Mthatha on its way to Qunu
On a bookshelf sits Thomas Macaulay’s History Of England, given to him by Prince Charles, who will be among the 4,500 guests attending today’s funeral, along with Bill and Hillary Clinton, civil rights leader the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey.
While Qunu thoroughly approves of the Prince of Wales, politicians – with the exception of Mandela – are not particularly popular among the 500 inhabitants.
It is because of the presence of so many government ministers, diplomats and overseas leaders that many local people have been excluded from attending the funeral.
‘In our culture it is disrespectful for us not to go, but there is nothing we can do about it, and that is very upsetting,’ said Simesihile Sohaye.
It wasn’t just the locals who were left out. Unfathomably, retired archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mandela’s long-time friend and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has not been invited. Some political observers speculated that his criticism of the governing ANC was at the root of the snub.
'Long live the spirit of Nelson Mandela': The crowds chanted old songs and slogans from the anti-apartheid struggle as they watched the body of Mandela roll past
Africa: Young women dance by the roadside in the small village of Queque, near Qunu, as they wait to watch the funeral procession to sweep by
‘Much as I would have loved to attend the service to say a final farewell to someone I loved and treasured, it would have been disrespectful to Tata [Mandela] to gatecrash what was billed as a private funeral,’ said Tutu.
‘Had I or my office been informed I would be welcome there is no way on earth I would have missed it.’
Tutu, 82, said he had cancelled his plans to fly to the Eastern Cape after receiving no indication that his name was on the guest list. In an apparent U-turn last night, president Jacob Zuma’s office insisted Tutu would be allowed to attend.
‘If he had called, we would have given him accreditation. They would never have turned Tutu away. There were no malicious shenanigans,’ said a spokeswoman.
Prince Charles’s place among the mourners, however, is assured. He will be among a group of 430 to actually see Mandela buried in a hillside opposite his home, near the graves of relatives.
Patriotism: Mourners wave and cheer as the hearse transporting the flag-draped casket containing Mandela's body as it passes through the town of Mthatha
High security: Soldiers in full combat gear, male and female, were stationed on foot on either side of the road from the airport in Mthatha
in full combat gear, male and female, were stationed on foot on either side of the road from the airport in Mthatha
Paying respects: Thousands of mourners line the streets of Umthatha as the enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles sweeps through their town
‘We are very happy that your future king will be with us,’ said local dignitary Nzg Yorkwana, who runs the Nelson Mandela Museum on the outskirts of Qunu. ‘He is a very dignified man and I am looking forward to meeting him.’
Mandela and the people of this remote region are from the Thembu tribe of the Xhosa ethnic group and have a royal family of their own, of which Mandela was a member.
‘Prince Charles has a great sense of tradition,’ said Ms Yorkwana. ‘I’m sure he will be very interested in the service.’
And unlike certain world leaders, the Queen’s eldest son will, of course, resist the urge to whip out his mobile for a ‘selfie’.
Full military honours: Fighter jets escort the military plane carrying the coffin of former South African President Nelson Mandela as it is flown to Mandela's home in the village of Qunu, Eastern Cape
Source: dailymail
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