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World Leaders Pay Respect at Mandela’s Funeral

Dignitaries from around the world flew to South Africa on Tuesday, December 10, to commemorate the life of former South African President Nelson Mandela. Mandela, instrumental in ending apartheid policies in his country, died on December 8 at the age of 95 after a persistent lung infection.

Courtesy of forbesimg.com
Courtesy of forbesimg.com

According to the Washington Post, huge crowds of mourners filled a soccer stadium in Soweto, South Africa where together they sang and clapped, memorializing Mandela as a racial healer, a figure so humble and transcendent that he felt comfortable with rich and poor, young and old, black and white. The service lasted for four hours with many emotional tributes and joyous song about a great leader lost. This all happened during an intense rainstorm which, according to tradition, symbolizes the passing of a great leader into the afterlife.

The venue of the memorial service, Soweto, is symbolic for many South Africans. The Washington Post writes that Soweto was the site of the 2010 World Cup tournament and the last time Mandela was seen in public. Moreover, Soweto was a formerly segregated township that was at the center of anti-apartheid protests in the 1970s and 1980s, a fitting place for South Africans of all backgrounds and color to unite to mourn a leader who fought against this segregation.

Among the mourners were over ninety presidents and prime ministers from around the world, including U.S. President Barack Obama, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and British Prime Minister David Cameron. According to the BBC, Obama, who was cheered as he took the podium to offer a eulogy to Mandela, remarked that “we will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. While I will always fall short of Madiba [Mr. Mandela’s clan name], he makes me want to be a better man.” Cuban President Raul Castro, whose brother Fidel showed much support for Mandela’s anti-apartheid cause, also stated during his eulogy address that Mandela was the “ultimate symbol of dignity and the revolutionary struggle.” Other mourners included many celebrities, such as Charlize Theron, who was born in South Africa, along with Bono, Oprah Winfrey, Peter Gabriel, and Sir Richard Branson.

While President Obama may have been cheered, the warm welcome was not spread to current South African President Jacob Zuma, who was booed and jeered as he prepared to give his closing address. According to Reuters, Zuma’s government is currently in the midst of numerous corruption scandals, upsetting many South Africans who view him as a fraction of the man that Mandela was. Undeterred by the booing, the BBC reports that Zuma stated that Mandela was “one of a kind…a fearless freedom fighter who refused to allow the brutality of the apartheid state to stand in way of the struggle for the liberation of his people.” Additionally, Zuma announced the renaming of a number of public buildings. This includes the Union Buildings in the capital Pretoria, where Mandela will lie in state until December 13, which will soon be known as the Mandela Amphitheatre.

The ceremony concluded with a speech by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who asked the crowd to rise to their feet for a final tribute. On December 15, a state funeral for Nelson Mandela will be held before his body is interred in a family burial plot.