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Johannesburg — Preparations for the state funeral of former president Nelson Mandela are proceeding well, the South Africa National Defence Force said yesterday. “Everything is on track in terms of arrangements for the funeral,” spokesperson Lieutenant-General Xolani Mabangu said.
Mandela died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, on Thursday last week at the age of 95. He will be buried in Qunu in the Eastern Cape, where he spent much of his childhood, tomorrow.
Yesterday was the third and final day in which Mandela’s body lay in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The body will be returned to One Military Hospital overnight and flown to the Eastern Cape today.
“Tomorrow (Saturday) at the Waterkloof Military Airbase . . . the body will be formally and officially handed over to the ANC (for them) to conduct their ceremony in honour of him,” said Mabangu.
He said chief mourners among the Madiba clan and Mandela family, as well as senior government officials, would accompany the body.
The New Age reported that all AbaThembu traditions would be observed once the body arrived at the Mthatha Airport on Saturday morning.
“The king (Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo) will tell Madiba that he is there to receive him. The king will salute Madiba and the procession will go to Mthatha city centre,” chief Mfundo Bhovulengwe Mtirara said.
“We will then move the body to iNdlu eNkulu (great house) at Qunu and then hand the body to reverends (ministers).”
The great house is usually the first rondavel built at a homestead.
The New Age reported the body would be handed over to leaders of the Methodist Church in the afternoon.
A public vigil would be held tonight at the Walter Sisulu University’s Nelson Mandela Drive campus.
After the state funeral had concluded, the abaThembu would receive the body to bury it according to royal protocol.
“Our king will salute Madiba three times saying: “Aah! Dalibhyunga (Mandela’s salutation name).”
Mandela would then be buried.
Part of the customary burial process is to slaughter an ox and sheep. Mandela is from the royal family of the abaThembu.
The Times reported that ministers and members of the Mandela family met Dalindyebo yesterday to convince him to attend Mandela’s funeral.
The king — who recently joined the Democratic Alliance — had apparently refused to attend the funeral if President Jacob Zuma was present.
About 5,000 people are expected to attend the state funeral, among them Britain’s Prince Charles.
On Thursday, Qunu residents expressed sadness that they were not invited to the funeral.
“It is very painful not to be able to attend the funeral,” said Simesihle Soyaye.
“We are the people of this area, the place where he grew up, we were staying with him.”
Military helicopters and police on horseback have been patrolling the area.
Construction and roadworks were under way throughout the week.
Meanwhile, South Africans will not be able to see Nelson Mandela’s remains being laid to rest, with his actual burial a strictly private, family affair, a government spokesperson said yesterday.
Once the initial public service has been completed, however, the moment of interment will, at the family’s request, be a purely private affair, spokesperson Phumla Williams said.
“The family has indicated they want to make the burial a family matter,” Williams said.
“They don’t want it to be televised. They don’t want people to see when the body is taken down.” — Sapa
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