How Mandela Will Be Buried

A series of activities heralding the final interment of global statesman, Dr. Nelson Mandela, was announced yesterday by the South African government.
The United Nations (UN), Which had in November 2009 declared July 18, Nelson Mandela International Day, yesterday said  no world leader had fought the cause of the institution like Mandela UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon said “no one did more to advance the values and aspirations of the UN than Nelson Mandela”.
Ban therefore urged the world “to each day be inspired by his lifelong example and his call to never cease working for a better and more just world,” adding that the late Mandela “touched our lives in deeply personal ways”.
July 18 is the late Madiba’s birthday. Ban said it would be annual observance on which “we recognise and seek to build on his contributions to promoting a culture of peace and freedom around the world”.
Last night, it was unclear which ceremony world leaders will attend, either Tuesday’s stadium memorial or the planned funeral service on December 15 in Qunu, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s rural hometown in Eastern Cape Province.
South African government minister Collins Chabane told journalists he expected massive crowds far beyond what the stadium’s normal 95,000-person capacity could hold.

He said there would be “overflow” areas to be set up.
Chabane said South African officials were briefing diplomats about the arrangements.
Already, US president Barack Obama and his two predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have said they will attend services in South Africa honouring Mandela.
Mandela’s body will not be at the stadium event on Tuesday, Chabane said, but disclosed that his body will rest in state on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of government in South Africa’s capital.
Mourners will walk up the steps into the Union Buildings’ amphitheatre and file past the body, Chabane said. The authorities yesterday blocked visitors from visiting the amphitheatre.
The minister said he did not know yet whether it would be an open- or closed-casket viewing.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP Sunday, in which it condoled with the people of South Africa and Mandela’s family, Ban said: “I am profoundly saddened by his passing. On behalf of the UN, I extend my deepest condolences to the people of South Africa and especially to Nelson Mandela’s family and loved ones.”
He recalled that Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of his people and humanity, and did so at great personal sacrifice, His “principled stance and the moral force that underpinned it were decisive in dismantling the system of apartheid”, he stated.
Ban described Mandela as a “singular figure on the global stage - a man of quiet dignity and towering achievement, a giant for justice and a down-to-earth human inspiration,” adding that many around the world were greatly influenced by his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom.
“I was privileged to meet Nelson Mandela in 2009.  When I thanked him for his life’s work, he insisted the credit belonged to others.  I was very moved by his selflessness and deep sense of shared purpose.
Nelson Mandela showed what is possible for our world and within each one of us -- if we believe, dream and work together.”
The burial arrangements also showed that Mandela’s body will be held overnight during those days at a military hospital on Pretoria’s outskirts.
Chabane called on residents to line the streets to serve as an honour guard as Mandela’s body will pass twice each day.
ANC members will hold a ceremony on December 14 at Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria before his body is flown to Qunu from there, Chabane added.
Sunday has been declared a national day of prayer and reflection over Mandela’s death.
South Africa expects overwhelming crowds and a host of world leaders to attend services honouring the late former president.
Across the country, South Africans have begun honouring Mandela, who died on Thursday aged 95.
In their first statement since Mandela’s death, his family said they had “lost a great man”, just as they had when South Africa’s apartheid government imprisoned him for decades.
“The pillar of our family is gone, just as he was away during those 27 painful years of imprisonment, but in our hearts and souls he will always be with us,” said the statement read by a family spokesman. “His spirit endures. As a family, we commit ourselves to uphold and be guided by the values he lived for and was prepared to die for.”
Those planning Mr Mandela’s funeral include the former president’s family, the federal government, the military and the ANC.
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since his country’s independence from Britain in 1980 and supported Mandela’s ANC during its struggle against the apartheid regime, paid his first public tribute to the deceased leader.
At Mr Mandela’s house in Houghton, hundreds of people gathered yesterday and sang liberation songs and homages to him. They walked through the streets of Houghton past expansive, stately homes carrying bundles of flowers and images of Mandela.
South Africa is preparing for the arrival of a flood of world leaders for the funeral and memorial services for Mandela.
Among those who have already indicated that they will travel to South Africa to honour the anti-apartheid hero, include Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.

Mandela was gift to the world - Tukur
In Nigeria, the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bamanga Tukur, yesterday paid tribute to Mandela, saying he was a gift to the world and institution personified.
A statement signed by Tukur’s media aide, Prince Oliver Okpala, said: “The death of His Excellency Dr Nelson Mandela is not a loss to the good people of South Africa alone but also a deprivation of one of the brightest political minds in Africa and the whole world; by the demise of this political colossus and the legend of our time, humanity has lost one of our most precious species.
“Ex-president Nelson Mandela will be remembered as a no-nonsense nationalist, who fought bravely and strongly for the freedom of his people and their emancipation from the shackles of colonialism and apartheid. He aligned with his people to fight the great evil and scourge represented by apartheid.”

CAN extols Mandela’s virtues
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on all Christians in the country to use the advantage of the three-day mourning and prayer sessions declared by the federal government to pray fervently for a better South Africa after Mandela.
CAN in a statement issued by its president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said that it is saddened to learn of the death of Mandela whom it described as a truly global hero and a man who brought South Africans together as a single entity through a remarkable lack of bitterness.
According to CAN, although death is a necessary end, nothing can make less important the Christian body’s sense of a deep and persisting loss of a man they hold in high esteem.
Aregbesola, Akpabio too
To immortalise Mandela, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has named the popular Freedom Park located at the heart of the state capital after him.
Speaking while being endorsed for a second term in office by executive secretaries of 30 local government areas in Osogbo, Aregbesola lamented that the death of the former South African president has robbed Africa of one of its finest leaders.
His Akwa Ibom State counterpart Godswill Akpabio in his tribute said “the whole world will continue to miss him, and his indelible marks on the sands of time will remain as an evergreen legacy for ages”.