Mourners hail Nelson Mandela's courage, conviction, 'remarkable lack of ... - CNN

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• There will be a public memorial at a soccer stadium and state funeral, sources say
• 4 years after his release from prison, Mandela became South Africa's first black president
• President: After years of health issues, he died Thursday surrounded by his family
• De Klerk says "Mandela's biggest legacy ... was his remarkable lack of bitterness"

Watch "Mandela Remembered" tonight on CNN at 9 p.m. ET
(CNN) -- Nelson Mandela's willingness to forgive and forget helped peacefully end an era of white domination in his native South Africa. But as news of his death spread, mourners there and around the world professed that he, himself, would never be forgotten.
"Mandela's biggest legacy ... was his remarkable lack of bitterness and the way he did not only talk about reconciliation, but he made reconciliation happen in South Africa," said F.W. de Klerk, South Africa's last white president before giving way to Mandela, the country's first black leader.
South Africa's current leader announced late Thursday that, after years suffering from health ailments, the man known widely by his clan name of Madiba died at 8:50 p.m. (1:50 p.m. ET) surrounded by family.
He was 95.
"He is now resting. He is now at peace," President Jacob Zuma said late Thursday. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father."
Special report: Nelson Mandela
Mandela's body is expected to be embalmed in the next three to four days, after which there will be a public memorial service at a Johannesburg soccer stadium, according to government sources. Then, his casket will lie in state for several days in Pretoria, and next week -- probably Friday or Saturday -- it will be flown to his ancestral hometown of Qunu for a state funeral and burial, the sources said.
Until that funeral, Zuma has ordered flags around South Africa to be "flown at half-mast," something that other countries including the United States and United Kingdom are also doing.

Nelson Mandela, the prisoner-turned-president who reconciled South Africa after the end of apartheid, died on Thursday, December 5, according to the country's president, Jacob Zuma. Mandela was 95.

Mandela became president of the African National Congress Youth League in 1951.

Mandela poses for a photo, circa 1950.

Mandela poses in boxing gloves in 1952.

Mandela in the office of Mandela & Tambo, a law practice set up in Johannesburg by Mandela and Oliver Tambo to provide free or affordable legal representation to black South Africans.

From left: Patrick Molaoa, Robert Resha and Mandela walk to the courtroom for their treason trial in Johannesburg.

Mandela married his second wife, social worker Winnie Madikizela, in 1958. At the time, he was an active member of the African National Congress and had begun his lifelong commitment to ending segregation in South Africa.

Nelson and Winnie Mandela raise their fists to salute a cheering crowd upon his 1990 release from Victor Verster Prison. He was still as upright and proud, he would say, as the day he walked into prison 27 years before.

A jubilant South African holds up a newspaper announcing Mandela's release from prison at an ANC rally in Soweto on February 11, 1990. Two days later, more than 100,000 people attended a rally celebrating his release from jail.

Mandela and Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda arrive at an ANC rally on March 3, 1990, in Lusaka, Zambia. Mandela was elected president of the ANC the next year.

After his release in 1990, Mandela embarked on a world tour, meeting U.S. President George H.W. Bush at the White House in June.

At his Soweto home on July 18, 1990, Mandela blows out the candles on his 72nd birthday cake. It was the first birthday he celebrated as a free man since the 1960s.

Mandela and his wife react to supporters during a visit to Brazil at the governor's palace in Rio De Janeiro, on August 1, 1991.

South African President Frederik de Klerk, right, and Mandela shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their work to secure a peaceful transition from apartheid rule.

Mandela votes for the first time in his life on March 26, 1994.

On April 27, 1994, a long line of people snake toward a polling station in the black township of Soweto outside of Johannesburg in the nation's first all-race elections.

Mandela in Mmabatho for an election rally on March 15, 1994.

Mandela was elected president in the first open election in South African history on April 29, 1994. He's pictured here taking the oath at his inauguration in May, becoming the nation's first black president.

Mandela, left, cheers as Springbok Rugby captain Francois Pienaar holds the Webb Ellis trophy high after winning the World Cup Rugby Championship in Johannesburg on June 24, 1995.

After one term as president, Mandela stepped down. Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, at right, was sworn in as his replacement in June 1999.

Mandela sits outside his former prison cell on Robben Island on November 28, 2003, ahead of his AIDS benefit concert at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. He was sent to the infamous prison five miles off the coast of South Africa, where he spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars.

Mandela shows something to a group of international journalists visiting the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg in May 2004.

Mandela sits with his wife, Graca Machel, and his grandchildren at his son's funeral on January 15, 2005. He disclosed that his son, Makgatho Lewanika Mandela, had died of AIDS and said the disease should be given publicity so people would stop viewing it as extraordinary.

The "46664 Arctic" benefit concert was held in Tromso, Norway, on June 11, 2005. 46664 was Mandela's identification number in prison. Here, artists who performed at the event surround him.

Mandela attends an HIV/AIDs concert in Johannesburg on February 17, 2005.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton leans down to whisper to former South African President Nelson Mandela during a visit to the Nelson Mandela Foundation on July 19, 2007, in Johannesburg.

A bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled in Parliament Square in London on August 29, 2007. The 9-foot statue faces the Houses of Parliament.

Mandela leaves the InterContinental Hotel after a photoshoot with celebrity photographer Terry O'Neil on June 26, 2008, in London.

Mandela meets in 2009 with international children as part of his 46664 Foundation.

Nelson Mandela and his third wife, Graca Machel, arrive at the 2010 World Cup before the final match between Netherlands and Spain on July 11, 2010, at Soccer City Stadium in Soweto.

Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Mandela at his home in Qunu, South Africa, on August 6, 2012.


The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
The evolution of Nelson Mandela
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The evolution of Nelson Mandela


The African National Congress -- the political party long associated with Mandela -- said "our nation has lost a colossus, an epitome of humility, equality, justice, peace and the hope of millions."
"The large African Baobab, who loved Africa as much as he loved South Africa, has fallen," the party said in a statement, comparing Mandela to a sturdy tree found in Africa. "Its trunk and seeds will nourish the earth for decades to come."
As news spreads, mourners recall 'remarkable man'
Throngs -- some of them in pajamas, due to the late hour -- gathered outside Mandela's house in a Johannesburg suburb after word of his death was announced, with people of all races singing, dancing and otherwise paying tribute to the late leader. Some said the news hadn't sunk in yet, while others expressed relief that he died peacefully, according to the official SAPA news agency.
"We must pay tribute to Mandela, the best state leader of all time," said 23-year-old Zaid Paruk.
Similar scenes broke out elsewhere in the country including Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, where some celebrated Mandela's life draped in ANC and South African flags.
Leon Curling-Hope said she was at a work Christmas party when revelers began singing the national anthem upon hearing the news.
"Everyone is emotional but the messages that are going out are of love and happiness," said Curling-Hope, a CNN iReporter. "Everyone is holding each other singing and talking about the great memories we all have."
Describing him as "a remarkable man," de Klerk told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, "South Africa, notwithstanding political differences, stands united today, in mourning."
Carrying on the work of Mandela
While the pain resonated most in his homeland, news of Mandela's death echoed worldwide.
Moments after Zuma spoke, the U.N. Security Council had a moment of silence in his honor, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later calling Mandela "a giant for justice and a down-to-earth inspiration." Irish leader Enda Kenny said Mandela's name "became synonymous with the pursuit of dignity and freedom across the globe."
"A great light has gone out in the world," tweeted British Prime Minister David Cameron. "Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time."
Tweets about Nelson Mandela

Reaction from U.S. politicians was similarly swift, with ex-Presidents George H. W. Bush calling Mandela "a man of tremendous moral courage" and Bill Clinton remembering him as "a man of uncommon grace and compassion, for whom abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries was not just a political strategy but a way of life."
Obama: 'He belongs to the ages'
"We've lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth," said current U.S. President Barack Obama, the first black leader of his own country who said his first public activism was an anti-apartheid protest. "He no longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages."
Kenyan activist: Mandela saved my life
The immensely popular leader largely stayed out of the public spotlight in recent years due to his medical issues, including a hospitalization for a lung infection in June.
On September 1, Mandela was discharged from a Pretoria hospital where he had been receiving treatment since June, according to Zuma's office. He was moved to a home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, where a bedroom was transformed into something akin to an intensive care unit, according to his ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Last month, Madikizela-Mandela told South Africa's Sunday Independent newspaper that tubes used to clear his lungs meant to prevent infections also made it so that he could not speak. She said then that he "remains quite ill," with doctors tending to him regularly.
"He communicates with the face, you see," Madikizela-Mandela told the newspaper then.
His history of lung problems dates to his days in Robben Island, where he was imprisoned for 27 years as part of his fight to overturn the country's system of racial segregation.
Tokyo Sexwale, who was incarcerated a few meters from Mandela, recalled him as "a very formidable and larger-than-life figure" who was nonetheless "very humble" and loving.
"He was embraced even by white wardens, his own jailers, because he demonstrated that through the power of dialogue ... people on different sides, former enemies can come together," Sexwale told CNN.
Toiled to dismantle entrenched apartheid
Mandela emerged from prison more prominent than ever and in 1994 -- four years after his release and one year after earning the Nobel Peace Prize with de Klerk, who was then South Africa's president -- he became South Africa's first black president.
Statesman, President, ambassador to the world
He left the presidency in 1999, but remained one of South Africa's most respected and revered international ambassadors, a model for world and particularly African leaders.
And a new generation has been introduced to him through movies like "Invictus" and "Long Walk to Freedom." Idris Elba -- who played Mandela in the latter film, which is based on his autobiography and came out last month -- called it an honor to "portray a man who defied odds, broke down barriers and championed human rights before the eyes of the world."
"It was as if he was born to teach the age a lesson in humility, in humor and above all else in patience," said Bono, the U2 singer and Africa activist. "In the end, Nelson Mandela showed us how to love rather than hate, not because he had never surrendered to rage or violence, but because he learned that love would do a better job."
Hollywood reacts to loss of a legend
His last high-profile public appearance came in 2010, when South Africa hosted soccer's World Cup. His family members and South African officials have updated the public on his life since, including numerous hospitalizations and his eventual return to his
Mandela has been hailed as a pioneer, a statesman, a hero, someone who maintained his easy smile and demeanor after decades of turmoil. To many South Africans, he was known by his traditional clan name of Madiba; other simply, affectionately called him Tata -- the word for father in Xhosa tribe.
"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human," said Zuma. "We saw in him what we seek in ourselves."
A man of many handshakes
CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet, Faith Karimi and Robyn Curnow contributed to this report.