Three helicopters fly over the grave site of former South African President Nelson Mandela as his family lays his body to rest in his hometown of Qunu, South Africa, on Sunday December 15. Mandela's body traveled from Pretoria by air to Mthatha in Eastern Cape province, and then by road to Qunu, where was buried Sunday. Mandela died December 5 at his home in Houghton at the age of 95.
Mandela's ex-wife
Winnie Madikizela Mandela, left, and his widow Graca Machel, center,
stand by Mandela's casket during his funeral ceremony in Qunu on
December 15.Planes fly overhead during the burial.
South African President Jacob Zuma speaks during the funeral ceremony.
Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson attend the funeral ceremony. 
family members and guests attend the funeral ceremony. 
Mandela's granddaughter, Nandi Mandela, speaks during the ceremony. 
Anti-apartheid activist and close friend to Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, speaks during the funeral ceremony. 
Mandela's casket is escorted inside for the funeral ceremony. 
A 21-gun salute is fired as the funeral procession carrying the casket of Mandela moves through Qunu. 
A woman cries as she watches the funeral ceremony on big screens in front of the Cape Town City Hall.
Mandela was laid to rest in his childhood village of Qunu.
Tribal leaders clad in animal skins joined dignitaries in dark suits at the grave site overlooking the rolling green hills.
As pallbearers walked
toward the site after a funeral ceremony, helicopters whizzed past
dangling the national flag. Cannons fired a 21-gun salute, its echoes
ringing over the quiet village.
Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief as she watched the proceedings.
"Yours was truly a long
walk to freedom. Now you have achieved the ultimate freedom in the bosom
of God, your maker," an officiator at the grave site said.
Military pallbearers
gently removed the South African flag that draped the coffin and handed
it to President Jacob Zuma, who gave it to Mandela's family.
At the request of the family, the lowering of the casket was closed to the media.
Mandela's coffin, draped
in his country's flag, lay atop black and white cattle skins in front
of a crescent of 95 candles, each marking a year of his life.
As the national anthem
"Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" or "God Bless Africa" drifted over the village,
a giant picture of Mandela looked down with a smile. Mourners placed
their fists on their chests, some with tears streaming down their faces.
"Today marks the end of
an extraordinary journey that began 95 years ago," Zuma said during the
ceremony. "It is the end of 95 glorious years of a freedom fighter ... a
beacon of hope to all those fighting for a just and equitable world
order."
The president thanked Mandela's family for sharing him with the world and said his memory will live on.
"We shall not say goodbye, for you are not gone," Zuma said. "You'll live forever in our hearts and minds."
About 4,500 people gathered in the tent, including Machel, who sat next to Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Mandela.
In other major cities including Johannesburg, crowds watched the funeral at special screenings in stadiums.
Mourners represented all
spheres of Mandela's life. There were celebrities, presidents,
relatives and former political prisoners.
"You symbolize today and
always will ... qualities of forgiveness and reconciliation," said a
tearful Ahmed Kathrada, a close friend who served time in prison with
Mandela for defying the apartheid government. "I've lost a brother. My
life is in a void, and I don't know who to turn to."
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, Prince Charles and business mogul Richard Branson were also among the attendees.
The funeral and burial cap 10 days of national mourning for a man whose fame transcended borders.
"Nelson Mandela was our
leader, our hero, our icon and our father as much as he was yours,"
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said, regaling mourners with tales of
a secret visit Mandela made in 1962 to Dar es Salaam to gather support
for his party, the African National Congress.
During his fight against
apartheid, Mandela fled to Tanzania, which housed the headquarters of
the ANC. The white minority government had banned it in South Africa.
In sharp contrast to the
days of apartheid, the events honoring Mandela included a great deal of
pageantry, as well as state honors.
Mandela's body arrived
Saturday in the tiny village in the Eastern Cape province, where he grew
up surrounded by lush, tranquil hills and velvety green grass.
Before arriving in Qunu,
the body lay in state for three days in Pretoria. After an emotional
service at the air base there, which included the handing over of his
body to the ruling African National Congress, it was put in a military
helicopter for the final leg of his journey.
Though he dined with
kings and presidents in his lifetime, the international icon relished
his time at the village. He herded cows and goats there as a child, and
always said it's where he felt most at peace. Some of his children are
also buried there.
"He really believed this is where he belonged," said his daughter, Maki Mandela.
Mandela was imprisoned
for 27 years for defying the racist apartheid government that led South
Africa for decades. He emerged from prison in 1990 and became South
Africa's first black president four years later, all the while promoting
forgiveness and reconciliation.
His defiance of white
minority rule and his long incarceration for fighting segregation
focused the world's attention on apartheid, the legalized racial
segregation enforced by the South African government until 1994.
Years after his 1999
retirement from the presidency, Mandela was considered the ideal head of
state. He became a yardstick for African leaders, who consistently fell
short when measured against him.
"Thank you for being everything we wanted and needed in a leader during a difficult period in our lives," Zuma said.
In keeping with tradition, Mandela was laid to rest in the afternoon, when the sun is at its highest.
SOURCE:CNN
if you think of what usually happens to people, particularly black people, when they take these stands against racist regimes, think of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Steve Biko, Chris Hani, they don’t usually get to die in their beds. They’re usually slain as young people.
ReplyDeleteAnd one thing that I think that is remarkable about Mandela’s trajectory is that he was the leader of an armed struggle - it wasn’t just him, it was the movement, and that’s important to remember … He was in prison for 27 years. It’s unlikely in those circumstances that that people comes out of jail, leads a transition, is leader, and then gets to die an old man in his bed.
When one looks at the history of black leadership around the world, it’s generally of people who have fallen before their time, because of the nature of the regimes they are facing. That didn’t happen to him. His long walk to freedom went all the way.