Nelson Mandela Mourned
December 15, 2013 by staff
Nelson Mandela Mourned, South Africa buries Nelson Mandela on Sunday, closing one momentous chapter in its tortured history and opening another in which the multi-racial democracy he founded will have to discover if it can thrive without its central pillar.
The Nobel peace laureate, who suffered 27 years in apartheid prisons before emerging to preach forgiveness and reconciliation, will be laid to rest after a state funeral mixing military pomp with the traditional rites of his Xhosa abaThembu clan.
The send-off in the rolling hills of the Eastern Cape has drawn 4,500 guests, from relatives and South African leaders to Britain’s Prince Charles, American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
Fellow anti-apartheid veteran Archbishop Desmond Tutu was also among those arriving shortly after dawn at a vast, domed tent erected in a field near Mandela’s home, having resolved a last-minute mix-up over his invitation.
“The person who is lying here is South Africa’s greatest son,” Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy leader of South Africa’s ruling ANC party who was acting as one of the masters of ceremonies, said as the service got under way.
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