QUNU, Dec 15:
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black President, was today laid to rest in his childhood village with full State honours as teary-eyed friends and family members paid poignant tributes to the anti-apartheid icon at a traditional funeral ceremony.
Mandela was buried here at a family plot in the presence of about 450 selected guests, including his widow Graca Machel, ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and other family members.
A military escort carried Mandela’s casket to the family plot, marking the end of an exceptional journey for the prisoner-turned-president who transformed South Africa.
The South African flag was removed from his casket, which was lowered into the ground followed by a traditional ceremony.
South African military jets and helicopters flew over as 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.
Before making their way to the site, mourners attended a funeral service in a marquee set up for the event. Ninety-five candles glowed at the funeral service, one for each year of his life.
A full military honour guard and a 21-gun salute escorted Mandela’s coffin to the marquee where about 4,500 mourners bid adieu to the global peace icon.
Thembu community, of which Mandela is a member, conducted a traditional Xhosa ceremony – including songs and poems about Mandela’s life and his achievements- before the burial.
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. (PTI)
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