South Africans Say Farewell as Mandela's Body Lies in State
As many as 2,000 to pay direct respects over next three days
South Africans will bid farewell to Nelson Mandela, the nation's first black president, as his body lies in state for three days following a send-off from dozens of global leaders at a rain-drenched memorial service.
The government expects as many as 2,000 people to file past Mandela's casket at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, and thousands more to line the streets of the capital to pay their respects. His body will then be transported on Dec. 14 to Qunu, the village where he spent part of his childhood in the Eastern Cape Province, before his funeral the next day.
"I will go to see his body in Pretoria," Aaron Ndlovu, a 62-year-old mechanic from Soweto, a township southwest of Johannesburg where Mandela once lived, said in an interview yesterday. "I need to pay my last respects. I'm so grateful to him."
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?