World mourns for Nelson Mandela

JOHANNESBURG

In this July 15, 2013 file photo, South African artist John Adams works on a giant acrylic-on-canvas painting of Nelson Mandela in the driveway of his house in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. AP Photo

Nelson Mandela, the icon of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle and a colossus of 20th century politics, died late Dec. 5 aged 95, prompting mass mourning and a global celebration of his astonishing life.

The Nobel Peace laureate, who was elected South Africa’s first black president after spending nearly three decades in jail, died at his Johannesburg home surrounded by his family, after a long battle against a lung infection. The news was announced to the nation and the world by an emotional South African President Jacob Zuma, in a live late-night broadcast.

“Our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation, has departed. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,” said Zuma, whose own role in the struggle against white rule saw him imprisoned with Mandela on Robben Island. Hundreds of South Africans maintained an impromptu vigil outside the Mandela home in Johannesburg, ululating, waving flags and singing anti-apartheid era songs.

Zuma announced that Mandela will receive a full state funeral and he ordered flags to remain at half-mast until after the burial. Unofficial government sources have said he could be laid to rest on Dec. 14, though some are calling for his burial to take place on the 16th, a public holiday named Reconciliation Day.



The death of Mandela has unleashed a heartfelt chorus of awed respect from across the worlds of politics, religion, sport and culture.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül said Mandela was a great statesman who inspired people in their quest for freedom, dignity and equality. “He made a revolution that changed the lives of his people as well as the thinking of the world. He was also a resilient peacemaker and a relentless reformer. The world will remember him with admiration and gratitude. May his soul rest in peace,” Gül wrote in his Twitter account.

“He no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages,” Barack Obama, America’s first black president, said in a deliberate echo of an early tribute paid to Abraham Lincoln, the president who emancipated the slaves. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared Mandela a “giant for justice.” Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II sent her personal condolences to Mandela’s family, saying she “remembers with great warmth” her meetings with a man who “worked tirelessly for the good of his country.” British Prime Minister David Cameron, who in 2006 apologized for what he said were the “mistakes” of his Conservative Party in its response to apartheid in Britain’s former colony, was also moved. “A great light has gone out in the world,” he said in Downing Street. Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Nelson Mandela as “one of the greatest politicians in modern times,” saying the former South African president was a man who never betrayed his convictions.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton tweeted a picture of himself with his “friend,” and said: “Today the world has lost one of its most important leaders and one of its finest human beings.”

The Dalai Lama said he would miss a “dear friend.” “The best tribute we can pay to him is to do whatever we can to contribute to honoring the oneness of humanity and working for peace and reconciliation as he did,” said the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

Business and religious leaders, the heads of international agencies, writers, thinkers, entertainers, sports personalities and activists also joined the outpouring of emotion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has turned over his business acumen and part of his fortune to battling disease in Africa, said he and his wife had been personally inspired. Brazilian football legend Pele declared Mandela “was a hero to me. He was a friend and a companion in the popular fight and the fight for world peace.”

But for all the sentiment around the world, the emotion was strongest in South Africa itself, where the celebration of the life of the nation’s greatest leader was tempered by concern to preserve his legacy. “Over the past 24 years Madiba taught us how to come together and to believe in ourselves and each other. He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu.