South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela was on Sunday laid to rest with full state honours in his childhood village after teary-eyed friends and family members bid adieu to the anti-apartheid icon whose courage and freedom struggle turned him into a giant of history.
A military escort carried Mandela’s casket to the family plot where Mandela was accorded a traditional burial, marking the end of an exceptional journey for the prisoner-turned- president who transformed South Africa.
South African military jets and helicopters flew over Mandela’s casket was placed over the grave. South African television showed the casket at the family gravesite, but stopped broadcasting the event before the casket was lowered.
The burial brought down the curtain on ten days of national mourning and memorial events for the global peace icon. Mandela died on December 5 aged 95 after a protracted illness.
Tribal leaders wrapped in animal skins joined dignitaries in dark suits for the walk toward the burial grounds. Soldiers lined the route as mourners slowly made their way to the gravesite atop a hill overlooking the valleys of Qunu. 95 candles glowed at the funeral service, one for each year of his life. With restricted access to facilities in the rural area, only about 4,500 people were present and about a tenth were at the actual burial site. PTI