From a friend who grew up through law school in South Africa. She just happened to be back in South Africa when Madiba died, a long term civil rights activist lawyer in her own right .. Mandela was very special to her.
Thousands of South African citizens have flocked to parliament, to monuments, to the homes of Madiba, both in Soweto and Houghton, - people are grieving - singing - dancing- candles, flags, flowers, pictures everywhere - holding services, memorials - all over this country, foreign dignitaries are arriving, his photos are outside every store in every mall. Parliamentarians are singing tributes in true African style in the House of Parliament, walking in processions to flame of remembrance, stadiums are being prepared, there are no cars left to hire, hotel rooms are jammed with journalists, people are wiping tears - this nation is moving and standing still - all at the same time for Madiba. And the hum is Hanba Kahle Tata Madiba...
South Africa will always remember these days - We are now preparing in South Africa for over 70 sitting heads of States, members of US Congress, Parliaments, and numerous former heads of states. The service for Madiba will be tomorrow, Tuesday at FNB stadium with many overflow stadiums providing space for the hundreds of thousands of people who are converging on the City. Madiba’s body will be held in State from Wednesday through Friday and it will travel the roads of Pretoria from the hospital to the Government Building each morning. After that time Madiba’s body be flown to Umtata airport in the Eastern Cape and then he will be buried in his birth and home village of Qunu.
and more on arrangements:
They expect 2,000 people to pass the casket of #Madiba, each hour as #NelsonMandela lays in State - for 3 days - from 9 am to 5 pm = 48,000 people. Many more will line the streets each day as his body is brought back to the Government Buildings. FNB stadium hold 100,000 people and there will be 4 overflow stadiums in JHB for the official memorial service tomorrow. The family has requested that when Madiba's body is laid in the ground in his birth village of Qunu, that there be no filming.
UPDATE 2:20 PM PT: from
Placing GAY FLAG on Mandel Memorial
When I was a child I was told by my Government that Nelson Mandela was bad man, a terrorist who wanted all white people dead. They did not allow us to see pictures of Mandela, and all images of him were banned. He was serving life in prison. When Mandela was finally released after serving 27 years, many believed South Africa would be a bloodbath, and most South Africans who at that time did not know Mandela the human, could not have imagined that he would ensure peace, unity and equality for a all, through a process of negotiation and reconciliation.
And so he became our Tata Madiba, our unifying hero and so when he died at the end of last week, we were devastated.
People by the thousands began to descend on Nelson Mandela Square, mere blocks from my hotel in Sandton as well as on the home he died at in Houghton.
Together with the designer of the Gay Flag of South Africa, Eugene Brockman and his partner Henry Bantjes, we decided to join the throngs of people and take some flags down to these memorial venues, where we could place them amongst the thousand of bouquets of flowers, plants, pictures, momentos, placards, cards and notes.
We wanted to thank #Madiba for what he had done for #LGBT people. We wanted to thank him for our freedom and equality and so we did. Nelson Mandela set the tone for #LGBTI equality when he said: Never, never and never again shall any one be oppressed in this beautiful land of #SouthAfrica;" and so South Africa boasts full equality to include sexual orientation and gender identity, in its all inclusive #Constitution.
… and there is a quote from and link to her obituary with biography below CHEETO.
For those who don't know much about Nelson Mandela… most of us in US don't.
DidUKnow? Even South Africans had to search for information, as it was all BANNED while he was in prison from 1964 to 1990?
Here is a quote from and link to her obituary with biography included.
NELSON MANDELA 1918-2013
Our beloved Madiba, Nelson Mandela, has just died. With deep sadness we extend our condolences to Madiba’s family and all of South Africa. As much as we hoped this day would never come it has. Our hope is that Madiba rests in peace and that South Africa remains at peace.
At 95, we could not have hoped for much longer a life on this earth, and as prepared as we were, we still need him. And we always will. Even though his political days were well behind him, his presence prevailed as a beacon of continued hope for a country that still suffers on so many levels. There will never be another Nelson Mandela in this world. We know that the former South African President and the anti-apartheid hero will live on in our hearts forever, yet it is so hard to let go of the sense of protection that he continued to breathe into South Africa, while he fought, during his incarceration, after his release, during his Presidency, every moment thereafter, and even during the time he was ill.
I will remember Nelson Mandela as much more than the man behind the demise of that insidious Apartheid, but also as a worldwide icon for democracy and peace, who insisted that never again would any group of South African be excluded from the dignity of full equality. And so when President, he ensured that the new South African Constitution specifically included sexual orientation and gender identity into its protections for all South Africans.
As noted it also contains a full abbreviated biography of his life and more descriptions of how her education coincided with his life.