World leaders descend on South Africa to bid farewell to Mandela

Scores of world leaders are expected in South Africa today to pay their last respects to ant-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.Rwandan delegation will be led by Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi and Rwanda Patriotic Front secretary-general Francois Ngarambe.US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle departed yesterday to attend the memorial service for the departed global icon.A host of African leaders will be joined by former US Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and their wives.At least 90 heads of state had by yesterday confirmed their attendance at Tuesday’s memorial event.George H.W. Bush is the only living former US president who will not attend. His spokesperson said the 89-year-old is no longer able to travel long distances.British PM David Cameron will attend the main memorial service today, while Prince Charles will represent Britain at Sunday’s state funeral.The leaders of France, Australia, Germany, Canada, Spain, Brazil and a host of other nations will also attend.Celebrities, including Bono, Oprah Winfrey and Sir Richard Branson are also expected to head to South Africa to pay their personal tributes to the man they considered a friend.A special joint session of parliament was held in Cape Town to allow South African politicians from all political parties to mark the passing of the nation’s first black president.Mandela’s valuesPresident Jacob Zuma has urged the country to remember the values of peace and forgiveness that Mandela lived by and uphold them.His sentiments were echoed by Mandela’s family, who asked South Africans to “keep the dream alive.”Tomorrow, the focus will shift back to Johannesburg where a memorial service is due to take place at the FNB Stadium, the scene of Nelson Mandela’s last public appearance ahead of the 2010 World Cup final.Some 80,000 people are expected to attend the event, including President Obama, his wife Michelle and other visiting dignitaries.From Wednesday, Mandela’s body will lie in state in Pretoria at the Union Buildings where he governed as president between 1994 and 1999.A funeral cortege carrying the icon’s remains will pass through the capital daily until Friday, with South Africans being urged to line the streets to form a “guard of honour.”The state funeral will take place in Mandela’s ancestral homeland of Qunu in the Eastern Cape on Sunday.It is still not clear whether President Obama will still be in the country, but many other world leaders are expected to travel to the usually sleepy rural village to joinMandela’s family, friends and former comrades in bidding farewell to the revered statesman as he makes his final journey home. ------------------------------------------------- ‘Honorary granddaughter’ eulogises anti-apartheid iconNelson Mandela’s long-time private assistant and “honorary granddaughter” spoke Monday of her deep love for the man who changed her life forever.Zelda la Grange, who came from Afrikaner middle-class obscurity to become the right-hand of South Africa’s first black president, spoke to a private broadcaster of her love for the man she called “Khulu,” a shortened form of grandfather in Mandela’s maternal Xhosa tongue.The pressure was relentless, she said, following Mandela around the world, organising his every move and shielding him from the never-ending stream of people clamouring for a moment in his presence.But she would never have swapped the experience for a chance at a regular family life.“I deeply loved him,” La Grange told 702 Talk Radio of her mentor.“I don’t think you are ever prepared enough,” she said of his death last week at the age of 95.“You are still shocked and saddened when the time comes. We had prepared ourselves emotionally but still we are overcome by this feeling of loss and sadness.”During his presidency, which ran from 1994-1999, and thereafter, La Grange became a regular feature by Mandela’s side.

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World leaders descend on South Africa to bid farewell to Mandela