JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — White South African women pulled up in SUVs, bringing their children and their maids, clad in neat uniforms, aprons and kerchiefs.
Well-heeled members of the nation's growing black middle class posed for iPhone photos in front of mountains of flowers, pictures and letters left outside the home of Nelson Mandela.
For black small-businessman Guntu Shabalala, 43, Mandela's death Thursday was just beginning to sink in.
"I started to realize when I went out in the morning that we were waking up to a different day. The traffic was different, the world was different. Life had changed, for everyone," he said.
In his 95-year life, Mandela was able to distill moments of togetherness and national pride — and Friday proved he could do the same in death, as the multiracial nation, two decades removed from the shackles of apartheid, shared its grief and celebration for the man they called simply "Tata," or father.
Tributes grand and small commemorated the greatness of the civil rights icon and former president, from the lighting of Paris' Eiffel Tower in the colors of the South African flag to the children's drawings of Mandela's face pinned to a steel fence outside his home in suburban Johannesburg.
South African President Jacob Zuma declared 10 days of mourning, as the nation prepared for the logistical and security challenges of hosting hundreds of dignitaries from around the world planning to attend Mandela's state funeral Dec. 15.
"We'll spend the week mourning his passing. We'll also spend it celebrating a life well lived, a life we must all emulate for the betterment of our country and Africa," Zuma said Friday.
President Obama announced that he and wife Michelle would travel to South Africa next week to pay tribute to Mandela.
After the state funeral, Mandela's body will be flown by military aircraft to the Eastern Cape, where he will be buried in the tiny village of Qunu, where he grew up.
Desmond Tutu, former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and Mandela's friend and fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, offered comfort to South Africans, brushing aside assertions that without Mandela's presence, the country would swiftly go downhill.
"What's going to happen to us now that our father has died? Does it spell doomsday disaster for us? Some have suggested that after he's gone, our country is going to go up in flames," Tutu said.
But Mandela's legacy of peace and goodwill is stronger than that, he said.
"The sun will rise tomorrow and the next day and the next. It may not appear as bright as yesterday, but life will carry on," Tutu said.
Zuma designated Sunday a day of prayer and contemplation in Mandela's memory. His words, concluding a news briefing on funeral arrangements, summed up the mood that Mandela's influence would live on.
"Long live Madiba," he said, using Mandela's clan name.
The main memorial service will be held Tuesday at the 90,000-seat stadium in Soweto where Mandela made his last public appearance, in 2010, at the final game of soccer's World Cup championships.
After the service, Mandela's body will lie in state for three days at the Union Buildings, Dec. 11-13, with long lines expected, like those snaking at the polls in black townships during the country's first democratic vote, in 1994.
Mandela's funeral is expected to draw almost all of Africa's leaders, the living U.S. presidents and heads of state and royals from around the world.
Although South African authorities have kept plans for the funeral and memorials under tight wraps, intense preparations for the event are believed to have been going on for months, since Mandela's June hospitalization with a lung infection. He went home in September but never recovered.
Well-heeled members of the nation's growing black middle class posed for iPhone photos in front of mountains of flowers, pictures and letters left outside the home of Nelson Mandela.
For black small-businessman Guntu Shabalala, 43, Mandela's death Thursday was just beginning to sink in.
"I started to realize when I went out in the morning that we were waking up to a different day. The traffic was different, the world was different. Life had changed, for everyone," he said.
In his 95-year life, Mandela was able to distill moments of togetherness and national pride — and Friday proved he could do the same in death, as the multiracial nation, two decades removed from the shackles of apartheid, shared its grief and celebration for the man they called simply "Tata," or father.
Tributes grand and small commemorated the greatness of the civil rights icon and former president, from the lighting of Paris' Eiffel Tower in the colors of the South African flag to the children's drawings of Mandela's face pinned to a steel fence outside his home in suburban Johannesburg.
South African President Jacob Zuma declared 10 days of mourning, as the nation prepared for the logistical and security challenges of hosting hundreds of dignitaries from around the world planning to attend Mandela's state funeral Dec. 15.
"We'll spend the week mourning his passing. We'll also spend it celebrating a life well lived, a life we must all emulate for the betterment of our country and Africa," Zuma said Friday.
President Obama announced that he and wife Michelle would travel to South Africa next week to pay tribute to Mandela.
After the state funeral, Mandela's body will be flown by military aircraft to the Eastern Cape, where he will be buried in the tiny village of Qunu, where he grew up.
Desmond Tutu, former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and Mandela's friend and fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, offered comfort to South Africans, brushing aside assertions that without Mandela's presence, the country would swiftly go downhill.
"What's going to happen to us now that our father has died? Does it spell doomsday disaster for us? Some have suggested that after he's gone, our country is going to go up in flames," Tutu said.
But Mandela's legacy of peace and goodwill is stronger than that, he said.
"The sun will rise tomorrow and the next day and the next. It may not appear as bright as yesterday, but life will carry on," Tutu said.
Zuma designated Sunday a day of prayer and contemplation in Mandela's memory. His words, concluding a news briefing on funeral arrangements, summed up the mood that Mandela's influence would live on.
"Long live Madiba," he said, using Mandela's clan name.
The main memorial service will be held Tuesday at the 90,000-seat stadium in Soweto where Mandela made his last public appearance, in 2010, at the final game of soccer's World Cup championships.
After the service, Mandela's body will lie in state for three days at the Union Buildings, Dec. 11-13, with long lines expected, like those snaking at the polls in black townships during the country's first democratic vote, in 1994.
Mandela's funeral is expected to draw almost all of Africa's leaders, the living U.S. presidents and heads of state and royals from around the world.
Although South African authorities have kept plans for the funeral and memorials under tight wraps, intense preparations for the event are believed to have been going on for months, since Mandela's June hospitalization with a lung infection. He went home in September but never recovered.