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news.com.au | world

Nelson Mandela's funeral: mourners join worldleaders at FNB stadium, Johannesburg for 

service

NELSON Mandela's memorial service has started an hour late after VIPs and mourners were held up entering

the stadium.

The memorial began as the crowds sang "Long live Nelson Mandela".

Members of the public have queued up overnight to attend the memorial to Nelson Mandela - which was due to start at

11am local time (8pm AEDT) at the 90,000 seat FNB stadium in Johannesburg where the former South African president

made his last appearance.

It was held up just over an hour, with the venue only two-thirds full as the ceremony got underway in steady rain that had

been falling since the early morning.

 Autoplay ON OFF

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British PM David Cameron, South African President Jacob Zuma, Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu are among world

leaders past and present to have arrived.

US President Barack Obama had not arrived when the memorial began.

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MT @shawnanbcnews : Quick shot of the Beast as the 'cade began to roll

to the #Mandela Memorial. pic.twitter.com/RdECIXrwY0

Jill Greenberg @TheJillG

O bama coming. RT @TheJillG MT @shawnanbcnews:Quick shot of the Beast as the 'cade began to roll to

 #Mandela Memorial pic.twitter.com/Vlu6SZc6T6

7:18 PM - 10 Dec 2013

Erin Conway-Smith 

@ejcs

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1 RETWEET

17m

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PROGRAM OF TODAY'S MEMORIAL (PDF)

Three other stadiums set up as overflow venues with giant screens were almost completely empty.

Incredible scenes at Soccer City, so much history at the

 venue, fitting v enue for the #Mandelamemorial

6:27 PM - 10 Dec 2013

Sias du Plessis 

@siasduplessis

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Obama will share a stage with China's Vice-President Li Yuanchao and President Raul Castro of Cuba, who will be

among the dignitaries to address the service, along with South African President Jacob Zuma and some of Mandela's

grandchildren.

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President of Brazil Dilma Rouseff who will also be speaking today,

has just walked in. #MandelaMemorial 

6:48 PM - 10 Dec 2013

Jacaranda Newsteam 

@JacaNewsFollow

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Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, to whom he remained close until his end, was one the first of the family

members to arrive. U2 frontman Bono was also among the mourners.

Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, made her first public appearance since his death as she arrived helped along by friends

at the stadium.

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Wearing a black coat and dress, the Mozambican human rights campaigner linked arms as she made her way slowly

into the bowels of the building.

Machel barely left her husband's bedside in the final six months of his life.

She maintained a near around-the-clock bedside vigil during the 84 days Mandela spent in a Pretoria hospital and the

subsequent three months he spent at home before he died on December 5.

One of her rare public appearances came a month ago, when she was spotted at the premiere of the movie Mandela:

Long Walk to Freedom tracing her husband's journey from prisoner to president.

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Thousands of mourners have already entered the stadium, carrying umbrellas and wearing warm clothing to ward off the

rainfall and cold winds.

The Obama and Bush families arrive at Waterkloof AFB in Pretoria,

S.A. (@CNBCAfrica) #RememberingMandela 

5:02 PM - 10 Dec 2013

NBC News 

@NBCNewsFollow

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The mood was one of joy and hope as mourners sang and danced their way into the stadium.

MANDELA'S WOMEN BY HIS SIDE AT END

AFRIKA TIKKUN AUSTRALIA MAKES DIFFERENCE

SOUTH AFRICA HOSTS WORLD LEADERS FOR FUNERAL

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The man at the head of the queue outside FNB stadium told the BBC: "I got up at one. Been here since three - wouldn't

miss this for anything."

US President Barack Obama arrived in Johannesburg on Air Force One as day broke.

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Outside FNB Stadium for Nelson Mandela memorial.

Grey sky. Police huddled. Flags at half-mast. Thousands

of people, some singing in the rain

1:23 PM - 10 Dec 2013 from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

David Smith 

@SmithInAfrica

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#Mandela after 6 hrs outside, sections begin to fill. "We will meet at

the sunset" is a common chant filling stadium

2:05 PM - 10 Dec 2013

Chris Cuomo 

@ChrisCuomoFollow

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#Mandela Rain falling, winds blowing & its chilly. But a

hurricane wouldn't stop mourners today. Everyone enters

FNB with a smile @eNCAnews

2:21 PM - 10 Dec 2013

Nickolaus Bauer  @NICKolausBAUER

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Mourners began gathering before dawn, desperate to secure one of the precious first-comer tickets that would allow

them to join nearly 100 heads of state and government in paying tribute to Mandela's life and legacy.

Despite the profound sense of national sorrow triggered by Mandela's death, the mood was upbeat, with people

determined to celebrate the memory of one of the 20th century's towering political figures.

"This is once in your life. This is history,'' said Noma Kova, 36. "I didn't want to watch this on TV,'' she said.

Only 80,000 were to be allowed inside the stadium, with others forced to watch at home or on giant screens set up in

three "overflow'' stadiums in Johannesburg with a combined capacity of 120,000.

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 Amazing atmosphere in stadium where Mandela

memorial will be held. Thousands already in stands

chanting and singing

2:30 PM - 10 Dec 2013

Anderson Cooper  

@andersoncooper 

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"This isn't a day for leaders. It's a day for the poor and

oppressed. Mandela fought for social justice" Jay Naidoo

 with crowds in stadium.2:23 PM - 10 Dec 2013

andrew harding 

@BBCAndrewH

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All of the living former US presidents - except George H.W. Bush - will attend.

Celebrity guests will include U2 singer Bono, chat show queen Oprah Winfrey and billionaire Richard Branson.

With 53 world leaders arriving for the stadium event, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said Johannesburg was

heading into lockdown in an effort to protect them.

"We are rolling out a plan which has been in place for the past three or four years," he said.

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It has not been announced whether a member of the British royal family will attend, but Prince Charles will attend the

private funeral on Sunday.

In African culture it is regarded as a blessing when it

showers during a period of bereavement. – SAnews.gov.za 

#MandelaMemorial

3:49 PM - 10 Dec 2013

amanda meade 

@meadea

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Russian President Vladimir Putin paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, comparing him to Mahatma Gandhi and Soviet

dissident and Nobel prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

"Without doubt he was a great friend of our people,'' Putin told reporters as he visited the South African embassy in

Moscow to honour the memory of the anti-apartheid icon and Russia's "great friend''.

The Russian strongman signed a condolence book and called Mandela ``a great humanist'' who can be compared to

Gandhi and Solzhenitsyn, who was jailed by the Soviet authorities.

"It was our country - the Soviet Union - that in the most active manner supported South Africa and other countries in

Africa in their fight against racial segregation, their fight for justice and democracy,'' Putin told reporters.

A memorial service was being held Tuesday in South Africa for the anti-apartheid icon, with close to 100 world leaders

attending.

Russia was represented at the ceremony by Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the parliament's upper house.

Makaziwe Mandela told the BBC that her father was surrounded by family before dying on Thursday aged 95.

"Until the last moment he had us,'' she told BBC journalist Komla Dumor.

"The children were there, the grandchildren were there, Graca was there, so we are always around him and even at the

last moment, we were sitting with him on Thursday the whole day.''

She said the former South African president's illness had been "a very long painful period'', but called the week before his

death "a wonderful time''.

Security was tight around the venue, with military helicopters flying overhead, and newly-recruited marshals in bright

jackets helping police keep the crowds moving.

Many

were

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wrapped in the South African flag or yellow-green coloured shawls printed with the slogan "Mandela Forever'' and

portraits of their hero.

When the gates opened, they rushed in to the stadiums, searching for the best vantage point on the sloped terracing

overlooking the field.

As the stands filled up, the physical structure seemed to undulate as the crowd bobbed and danced en masse, like a

giant, confused Mexican wave.

A central stage where, later in the day, speakers including the US and Cuban presidents were to address millions

watching around the world, appeared to be protected by a glass shield.

Some 70 kilometres away at the Waterkloof air force base, journalists watched as plane after plane swooped down

bringing in the world leaders, from China, Germany, Brazil and every corner of the globe.

Thousands of mourners had used a free train service from central Johannesburg to reach the stadium, mixing excitedly

together on the platform and in the compartments - men and women of all ages and races.

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"I am going to the memorial to be closer to the national mood, to come out of my bubble,'' said white Afrikaans speaker 

Marcel Boezaart, 26.

Nigerian Fola Folowosele, 27, had been visiting friends in South Africa when the news that Mandela had died broke last

Thursday.

For Folowosele, there was never any doubt in his mind that he would stay to be part of the week-long state funeral that

followed.

"He's perhaps Africa's greatest son, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,'' he said.

Some in the crowd recalled treasured moments when they had seen or, in some cases, even met or spoken to the man

they had come to remember.

"When you say Mandela, you are talking South Africa,'' said Julenda Ntlekoana, a nurse who met Mandela when he

visited her Johannesburg hospital after he retired from office.

One notable absentee will be the Dalai Lama, who has been twice been refused a visa for South Africa in recent years

because of apparent fears in Pretoria that it would offend China.

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SOWETO'S GENTRIFICATION IS MANDELA'S LEGACY

GALLERY: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF NELSON MANDELA

Most of the world leaders, including a host of African heads of state, will attend the service at the magnificent FNB

Stadium near Soweto, on the south-western edges of Johannesburg. It was built for the 2010 soccer World Cup, and can

hold 94,000.

LAURIE OAKES: NELSON MANDELA LISTED AS A TERRORIST UNTIL 2008

ANTHONY JOHNSON: THE NELSON MANDELA I KNEW

READ NELSON MANDELA FAMILY'S FULL STATEMENT

- with Paul Toohey, wires

SOURCE: h ttp://www.news.com.au/world/ne lson-mande las-funeral-mou rners-join-world-leaders-at-fnb-stadium-johannesburg-for-service/story-fndi r2ev-

Reuters Live Feed

0:01

Reuters Live FeedLive inside Nelson Mandela's memorial

0:28

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