South Africa buries 'greatest son' Mandela

QUNU  - South Africa held a state funeral for Nelson Mandela on Sunday, closing one 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 was held in apartheid prisons for 27 years before emerging to preach forgiveness and reconciliation, was honored with ceremonies that mixed military pomp with the traditional rites of his Xhosa abaThembu clan.

The funeral drew 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.

"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.

Fellow anti-apartheid veteran Archbishop Desmond Tutu was also among those who arrived 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.

As Mandela's flag-draped coffin was borne from the house on a gun-carriage, a battery of cannons positioned on the hillside fired a 21-gun salute, sending booms echoing across the sun-drenched valley.

The coffin was followed into the huge tent, decked out inside in black, by Mandela's grandson and heir, Mandla, and South African President Jacob Zuma.

It was then placed on black and white Nguni cattle skins in front of a ring of 95 candles as the service started with a choir singing Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, the evocative national anthem adopted after the end of apartheid in 1994.

Mandela died in Johannesburg on December 5 aged 95, plunging his 53 million countrymen and millions more around the world into mourning, and triggering more than a week of official memorials to the nation's first black president.

As many as 100,000 people paid their respects in person at his lying in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where he had been inaugurated as president, an event that brought the curtain down on more than three centuries of white domination.

When his body arrived on Saturday at his ancestral home in Qunu, 700 km (450 miles) south of Johannesburg, it was greeted by ululating locals overjoyed that Madiba, the clan name by which he was affectionately known, had "come home".

"After his long life and illness he can now rest," said grandmother Victoria Ntsingo, as military helicopters escorting the funeral cortege clattered overhead.

"His work is done."

'Don't call me'

Mandela served just one term as leader of Africa's biggest and most sophisticated economy, and formally withdrew from public life in 2004, famously telling reporters at the end of a farewell news conference: "Don't call me, I'll call you."

His last appearance in public was at the 2010 World Cup final in Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium, waving to fans from the back of a golf cart.

Yet such was his influence as the architect two decades ago of the historic reconciliation between blacks and whites that his passing has left a gaping hole in the heart of South Africa.

With an eye on elections in five months, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), the 101-year-old former liberation movement Mandela once led, has seized on his death as a chance to shore up popularity that is ebbing even in its black support base.

The strategy has not been without its risks, not least because it has highlighted the gulf in stature between South Africa's first black president and its fourth, the scandal-plagued Zuma.

It backfired spectacularly at a mass Mandela memorial at Soccer City on Tuesday when Zuma, under fire for a $21 million security upgrade to his private home, was booed and jeered in front of world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama.

But barring an upset next year, Zuma looks set for another five years in office, during which he will have to address an economy struggling to shake off a 2009 recession and the fragmentation of a vital ANC alliance forged with the unions in the common struggle against apartheid.

With unemployment at 25 percent and racial inequality still painfully evident - the average white household earns six times more than the average black one - pressure for radical economic transformation is only likely to increase.

Against that backdrop, the party is desperate for strong and decisive leaders to guide South Africa through the myriad complexities of the 21st century global economy and allowing it to claim what it believes is its rightful place at the world's top table.

Both inside and outside the party, there are doubts whether Zuma, a polygamous Zulu traditionalist with no formal education, is the right man for the job.

"We need to raise the level of leadership," former president Thabo Mbeki, who was unceremoniously ousted by Zuma as ANC leader six years ago, said in eulogies to Mandela last week.

"The transformation of South Africa is a very difficult task, I think in many respects more difficult than the struggle to end the system of apartheid."

source: interaksyon.com

Mandela's 'long walk' nears its end

PRETORIA -- Nelson Mandela embarked on the final leg of his exceptional 95-year journey on Saturday, as his remains were flown to his rural childhood home for traditional burial.

Sunday's interment will bring down the final curtain on 10 days of national mourning and global tributes for the prisoner-turned-president who transformed his country and inspired the world.

Tens of thousands had packed a soaked stadium in Soweto for a memorial service Tuesday and up to 100,000 people filed past Mandela's open-casket for the three days it was displayed at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

The same venue had witnessed his inauguration as South Africa's first black leader two decades earlier.

Mandela's flag-draped casket was flown to Qunu in Eastern Cape province after a send-off organized by the ruling African National Congress that he once led.

President Jacob Zuma, flanked by Mandela's widow Graca Machel and ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, said South Africa needed "more Madibas" -- using Mandela's clan name -- in order to prosper.

"Yes we are free but the challenge of inequality remains," Zuma said, citing the twin blights of poverty and unemployment on the country's economic progress.

'Go well Tata'

"We would like to say, go well Tata (father). You have played your part and you have made your contribution," he added.

Mandela's favorite poem "Invictus" was printed on the back of the memorial program and a verse was read out during the send-off.

Mandela's grandson Mandla recalled how as a young child he would hear people in the then blacks-only township of Soweto shouting Amandla! (power) and "Viva Mandela."

"I though I must be a very popular kid," he joked.

Since Mandela's death at his Johannesburg home on December 5, South Africans have turned out in pouring rain and blistering sunshine to say goodbye to the anti-apartheid icon.

There were scuffles on the final day of the lying in state on Friday, as police had to turn away tens of thousands of frustrated mourners who were unable to get in to view the body.

On arrival at the airport near Qunu, Mandela's casket will be carried to his home village in a military convoy, and will receive a 21-gun salute and a flyover by the South African Air Force.

Sunday's funeral will begin at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) with a two-hour ceremony for 50,000 people, including foreign dignitaries such as Britain's Prince Charles.

But Mandela's friend and fellow Nobel peace laurate Desmond Tutu will not be there, the archbishop's office said Saturday, amid allegations he was not invited for political reasons.

A traditional, private burial

The burial itself will be a strictly private affair, barred to both the public and the media, on the wishes of the Mandela family.

"They don't want it to be televised. They don't want people to see when the body is taken down," government spokeswoman Phumla Williams told AFP.

A small crowd had gathered at Mthatha airport to welcome Mandela's casket.

Clutching two photographs of himself with Mandela, Solomon Juries, 50, had travelled from Cape Town, with other former members of the ANC's armed wing.

"Its very, very emotional for me to be here," Juries said.

"I just get emotional when I think he's gone and we will only hear about him but never see him again," he added.

The funeral will be held according to traditional Xhosa rites overseen by male members of Mandela's clan.

The slaughtering of an animal -- a ritual performed through various milestones of a person's life -- will form a crucial part of the event.

During the ceremony, Mandela will be referred to as Dalibhunga, the name given to him at the age of 16 as he entered adulthood.

Although Mandela never publicly declared his religious denomination, his family comes from a Methodist background.

US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who will be among the mourners on Sunday, said it would be a "moment of pain and celebration."

"He saved a lot of people and left us better off," Jackson said before boarding a plane to Qunu from Pretoria.

source: interaksyon.com

South Africa prepares funeral for the ages for Mandela

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa prepared Saturday a sweeping, emotional farewell for Nelson Mandela and a funeral to underline the anti-apartheid icon's transcendent influence with a stellar gathering of world leaders and luminaries.

As Mandela's family expressed their sense of grief and loss, government officials fleshed out details of the memorial events that will culminate in the prisoner-turned-president's burial on December 15 in his boyhood home of Qunu.

Presidents and foreign heads of government, religious dignitaries, and cultural figureheads are all expected to fly in and pay their respects to the man who transformed his country and became a global symbol of hope and freedom.

The scale of the event and the level of attention and emotion surrounding it has had observers searching for a precedent, with some going as far back as the funeral of India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi.

For a second straight day, thousands of ordinary South Africans, black and white and from all walks of life, paid personal tribute at the Johannesburg residence where Mandela died late Thursday, aged 95, surrounded by friends and family.

A large police barrier blocking the road was transformed into a multi-coloRed bank of flowers, flags, photos, and messages remembering the country's first black leader, known affectionately as Madiba.

"We have lost our friend"

While some focused on his role in dismantling apartheid and forging the modern, multi-racial South African state, others recalled the common touch that was one of Mandela's particular political gifts.

"I am here because we have lost our friend," said domestic worker Temperance Luthuli.

On a nearby lawn, a makeshift shrine had been set up with candles burning on a square of blackened grass, surrounded by a horseshoe of flowers.

On the other side of the road, a hawker flogged yellow T-shirts with the slogan "Nelson Mandela, our hero has fallen - 1918-2013" for 200 rand ($20).

In an intimate ceremony in Qunu on Saturday, residents lit a metER-high candle, remembering Mandela as the "light of the universe."

"The pillar of the family is gone," Mandela family spokesman Temba Matanzima told journalists in Johannesburg.

"His presence was like a baobab tree that provided a comforting shade that served as protection and security for us," he said -- referring to the massive tree with its famously thick trunk.

Mandela's body will lie in state for three days from Wednesday, with the coffin taken in a cortege through the streets of Pretoria each morning, giving as many people as possible the opportunity to say farewell.

'While mourning, also sing'

Formal memorial events begin Sunday with South Africans invited to go to churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship.

"We should, while mourning, also sing at the top of our voices, dance and do whatever we want to do, to celebrate the life of this outstanding revolutionary," said President Jacob Zuma.

On Tuesday around 80,000 people are expected to attend a memorial service in the Soweto sports stadium that hosted the final of the 2010 World Cup.

The organizational and security logistics for all the events are daunting, and the military cancelled leave for troops and reservists to help with crowd control.

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will travel to South Africa together with former first couple George W. and Laura Bush.

Another former US leader, Bill Clinton, who was in office when Mandela became South Africa's first black president, will also attend.

In a tribute shortly after the revered statesman's death was made public, Obama mourned Mandela as a "profoundly good" man who "took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice."

In Cape Town, a crowd of thousands from all races and ages gathered late Friday for a multi-faith celebration at the site where Mandela made his first public speech after nearly three decades in apartheid jail.

"Tonight we stand in solidarity as the people of Cape Town -- black, white, colored, Indian, all the religions together," said mayor Patricia De Lille.

South Africa's archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, a fellow Nobel peace prize winner, praised Mandela as an "incredible gift that God gave us."

Mandela spent 27 years in apartheid prisons before being elected president in 1994 and unifying his country with a message of reconciliation after the end of white minority rule. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with South Africa's last white president, F.W. de Klerk, in 1993.

Palestinians and Israelis, Beijing and the Dalai Lama, Washington and Tehran all paid heartfelt tribute to Mandela, describing him as one of the towering figures of the 20th century.

Even reclusive North Korea sent its condolences, praising Mandela's "struggle against racism and for democracy."

Flags flew at half-mast in numerous countries, including the United States, France, and Britain, and at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Mandela had waged a long battle against a recurring lung infection and had been receiving treatment at home since September following a lengthy hospital stay.

His two youngest daughters were in London watching the premiere of his biopic "Long Walk to Freedom," along with Britain's Prince William, when they learned of his death.

Once considered a terrorist by the United States and Britain for his support of violence against the apartheid regime, at the time of his death Mandela was an almost unimpeachable moral icon.

source: interaksyon.com

BMW recalls 750,000 cars worldwide

FRANKFURT — German luxury car maker BMW is recalling about 750,000 cars worldwide over potential electrical problems, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

The recall affects mainly about 500,000 cars in the United States, specifically various versions of its 1-Series and 3-Series cars built between March 2007 and July 2011 and its Z4 model built between March 2009 and June 2011.

Cars sold in Canada, Japan and South Africa were also affected, the spokesman said.

The recall is the results of problems with a battery cable connector which could break and cause a loss of electrical power to the vehicle, causing the car to stall unexpectedly and even crash.

source: interaksyon.com