Alexander Mitchley and Yadhana Jadoo, Special for USA TODAY 3:01 a.m. EST December 15, 2013
The casket of former South African President Nelson Mandela is escorted to the funeral ceremony in Qunu on Dec. 15.(Photo: Odd Andersen, AFP/Getty)
[h=3]Story Highlights[/h]
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QUNU, South Africa — Several thousand guests gathered Sunday for the state funeral of South Africa's "greatest son" Nelson Mandela.
The anti-apartheid leader is being laid to rest in his ancestral village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, and the ceremony is taking place in a huge tent at the family compound on a hillside there.
The service is being attended by guests including senior South African officials, veterans of the fight against white rule and foreign diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard. Britain's Prince Charles, entrepreneur Richard Branson, former Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Oprah Winfrey were also attending.
Ahmed Kathrada, Mandela's friend and a fellow prisoner at Robben Island for 26 years, eulogized the former statesman in a moving tribute, recalling the ex-president as a "'tall, healthy, strong man, the boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded pick and shovel." Kathrada said that Mandela "was my elder brother." As he finished speaking, he said: "My life is in a void and I don't know who to turn to."
In keeping with tradition, Mandela will be buried at Noon, as the sun reaches its highest point.
Mandela's portrait looked over the assembly in the white marquee from behind a bank of 95 candles representing each year of his life. His casket, draped in the national flag, was placed on a carpet of cow skins below a lectern where speakers delivered eulogies.
"I think all of us will agree today the person who lies here is South Africa's greatest son," said Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy president of the ruling African National Congress.
Ahead of the ceremony, South African military honor guards marched and stood at attention on a dirt road as the guests arrived, and busloads of Zulu tribesman dressed in traditional warrior wear wielded fighting sticks and shields.
After the funeral ceremony, a smaller group of guests will attend Mandela's burial at a family grave site on the estate in Qunu, a rural village in South Africa's southeastern Transkei territory.
The burial will end 10 days of mourning ceremonies that included a massive stadium memorial in Johannesburg and three days during which Mandela's body lay in state in the capital, Pretoria. He died Dec. 5 at the age of 95 in his Johannesburg home.
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Contributing: Associated Press
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The casket of former South African President Nelson Mandela is escorted to the funeral ceremony in Qunu on Dec. 15.(Photo: Odd Andersen, AFP/Getty)
[h=3]Story Highlights[/h]
- White dome-shaped tent houses 4,500 mourners
- Mandela receives a full military funeral
- Anti-apartheid icon died on Dec. 5 at age 95
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QUNU, South Africa — Several thousand guests gathered Sunday for the state funeral of South Africa's "greatest son" Nelson Mandela.
The anti-apartheid leader is being laid to rest in his ancestral village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, and the ceremony is taking place in a huge tent at the family compound on a hillside there.
The service is being attended by guests including senior South African officials, veterans of the fight against white rule and foreign diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard. Britain's Prince Charles, entrepreneur Richard Branson, former Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Oprah Winfrey were also attending.
Ahmed Kathrada, Mandela's friend and a fellow prisoner at Robben Island for 26 years, eulogized the former statesman in a moving tribute, recalling the ex-president as a "'tall, healthy, strong man, the boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded pick and shovel." Kathrada said that Mandela "was my elder brother." As he finished speaking, he said: "My life is in a void and I don't know who to turn to."
In keeping with tradition, Mandela will be buried at Noon, as the sun reaches its highest point.
Mandela's portrait looked over the assembly in the white marquee from behind a bank of 95 candles representing each year of his life. His casket, draped in the national flag, was placed on a carpet of cow skins below a lectern where speakers delivered eulogies.
"I think all of us will agree today the person who lies here is South Africa's greatest son," said Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy president of the ruling African National Congress.
Ahead of the ceremony, South African military honor guards marched and stood at attention on a dirt road as the guests arrived, and busloads of Zulu tribesman dressed in traditional warrior wear wielded fighting sticks and shields.
After the funeral ceremony, a smaller group of guests will attend Mandela's burial at a family grave site on the estate in Qunu, a rural village in South Africa's southeastern Transkei territory.
The burial will end 10 days of mourning ceremonies that included a massive stadium memorial in Johannesburg and three days during which Mandela's body lay in state in the capital, Pretoria. He died Dec. 5 at the age of 95 in his Johannesburg home.
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Contributing: Associated Press
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