Mandela for Burial Tomorrow

                            

The remains of South Africa’s first black President, Nelson Mandela, would be laid to rest tomorrow at his ancestral home in Qunu - 700 km south of Johannesburg.

The week of mourning of Mandela who died on December 5, came to an end Friday evening with a final day rush by hundreds of South Africans who pushed through police lines in a last-ditch bid to see Mandela lying in state in Pretoria.

The body will remain in Pretoria overnight, and there will be a ceremony at a local air force base on Saturday morning to allow members of the governing African National Congress to say a last farewell.

The coffin will then be flown to the Eastern Cape ahead of the burial tomorrow at Mandela's ancestral home in Qunu.

Compared to Tuesday's mass memorial in Johannesburg, Sunday's state funeral at Qunu will be a smaller affair focusing on the family, but dignitaries, including Britain's Prince Charles and a small group of African and Caribbean leaders, will also attend.

But former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who had been expected at the funeral, will not attend, a South African foreign ministry spokesman said.
Lt-Gen Xolani Mabangu, from the defence force, said chief mourners among the Madiba clan and Mandela family, as well as senior government officials, would accompany the body as it travels from Pretoria to the Eastern Cape.

Said Mabangu: “A military guard of honour will welcome the arrival in Mthatha and the coffin will be placed on a gun carriage and transported to a hearse.”

Local people will form a 'human chain' between Mthatha and Qunu as the procession passes. Once in Qunu, the Thembu community will conduct a traditional ceremony.

It is not clear whether the Thembu monarch, King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo will be attending the funeral. According to custom, he should play a central role in the rituals.

But the king appears to be unhappy about some aspects of protocol and government ministers and Mandela family members have been meeting him to urgently convince him to be there, reports the BBC.

Tomorrow’s funeral will mark the end of a period of commemorations in South Africa since the 95-year-old's death on 5 December.

Mandela's death has seen an unrivalled outpouring of emotion for the statesman and Nobel Peace Laureate, who was honoured by a host of world leaders at the memorial service in Johannesburg.

On the last day of his lying in state, tens of thousands of mourners, some breaking through police barriers, flocked to Union Buildings to say a personal goodbye to the anti-apartheid hero.

About 100,000 mourners had paid homage to the former president, a global symbol of reconciliation, over the course of the three days with more than 50,000 paying their respects yesterday.

Such was the crush of people wanting to see Mandela's body in the Union Buildings in Pretoria, that the government had asked others to stay away from the park-and-ride facilities set up to take mourners to the area.

There were moments of tension as police turned people away. At the Pretoria Showgrounds, one of the park-and-ride points, the crowd broke through the metal entrance gate when officers tried to stop people coming through. Some fell to the ground and hundreds streamed past before order was restored.

On another access road, police had to force back people trying to break through crowd barriers.

The day ended without further incident as the body of South Africa's first black president was moved by police motorcade back to the country's main military hospital for a final night.

The arrival of an army of reporters, photographers and television crews for Sunday's funeral has created a security nightmare for South African authorities - and the chance to make a quick buck for enterprising locals.
Yesterday, his grandchild, Mandla sat beside the coffin, acknowledging mourners with smiles.

In the heat of the South African summer, army chaplains and medics handed out bottles of water and sachets of tissues.
Some people had been queuing since Thursday.

"We were hungry and thirsty and did not have money for food. The thought that I must be here to pay respect kept me going," said Leena Mazubiko, who had traveled from eastern Mpumalanga province.