THE world thanks South Africa for sharing former president Nelson Mandela with them, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday at the national memorial service at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, attended by thousands of mourners, world leaders and other dignitaries and celebrities.
“It is an honour to be with you today, to celebrate a life like no other,” Mr Obama said. “People of every walk of life, the world thanks you for sharing Mandela with us. His struggle was your struggle.”
He said the death of Mandela was a time for self-reflection. “How well have I applied his lessons in my own life? It’s a question I ask myself — as a man and as a president.”
He said it was hard to eulogise about such a “giant of history”. He was the last great liberator of the 20th century and while it was tempting to remember him as an icon, Mandela himself resisted such a lifeless portrayal.
Instead, he shared his doubts and fears, his miscalculations and his victories, said Mr Obama. “He was not a bust made of marble but flesh and blood.” This was why the world could learn from him, he said.
To a roar of applause, Mr Obama referred to a “word in South Africa: ubuntu” that captured Mandela’s greatest gift — “the recognition that we are all bound together in ways invisible to the human eye”.
The US president said much had been achieved in the fight for racial equality, and that he and his wife, Michelle, were the beneficiaries of that. But “we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not yet done”.
Around the world, there was still suffering, people imprisoned for their beliefs and being persecuted for their ethnicity. Mr Obama said there were too many leaders who claimed solidarity with Mandela’s vision but did not tolerate dissent from their own people.
“Mandela reminded us that it always seems impossible until it is done … We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,” he said.
“While I will always fall short of his example, he makes me want to be a better man. He speaks to what is best inside us,” said Mr Obama.
Boos for Zuma
Earlier, African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa opened the proceedings, which were running about two hours late, welcoming a long list of dignitaries.
Mr Ramaphosa applauded the people of South Africa for the way in which they had honoured "our father" Mandela since his death, and those who had travelled "from all corners of the world" to the service, especially the more than 90 heads of state and other dignitaries, including Mr Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, and his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
When President Jacob Zuma arrived on the podium he was booed by many in the audience while others gave him a rousing welcome. He has been embroiled in several scandals since before he assumed the presidency, most recently involving the R206m spent on his private estate at Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.
The embarrassing moment for the country, and particularly the ANC, seemingly prompted Mr Ramaphosa to plead with the crowd for a "dignified and fitting memorial". The incident also seemed awkward for Mr Zuma, who sat still and watched. He was later to deliver a keynote address.
Mr Ramaphosa later again called for "discipline" after it appeared that parts of the crowd were jeering at Mr Zuma following a roar of applause for US President Barack Obama.
ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said on the sidelines of the memorial service that the jeering was “unfortunate”, adding: “There are many organisations who are here. This is an event for all people ... We would expect all organisations that are here to respect this solemn moment.”
He said the ANC would “not take responsibility for people behaving in a manner that we think is not appreciated”.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe got a big cheer as he entered the stadium, similar to the greeting he got when he attended the funeral of Mandela’s closest comrade Walter Sisulu in 2003.
FNB Stadium by midday on Tuesday. Picture: SETUMO STONE
Former president Thabo Mbeki was greeted by wild applause when he was ushered onto the stage, only matched by the applause for Cuban President Raul Castro. The crowd also roared as Ms Madikizela-Mandela and former president FW de Klerk arrived.
Mr Obama shook hands with Mr Castro while greeting a line of world leaders and heads of state. He also shook hands with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who has clashed with him over alleged National Security Agency spying.
The US and Cuba have recently taken small steps toward rapprochement, raising hopes the two nations could be on the verge of a breakthrough in relations. But sceptics caution that the two countries have shown signs of a thaw in the past, only to fall back into old recriminations.
In depth: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918- 2013
News and views on the death, and life, of former president Nelson Mandela, with tributes and photographsTributes in the rain
Braving rain and unseasonably cold weather, thousands of ordinary people filled the 94,000-seat stadium to honour Mandela, who died in Johannesburg on Thursday night at the age of 95. He is to be buried in his Eastern Cape home town, Qunu, on Sunday.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told mourners that Mandela was "a hero of our time", adding that South Africa’s democratic transformation, which Mandela had led, was a victory. He said that despite Mandela’s passing, the struggle for prosperity in South Africa continued.
African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Africa was mourning together with the rest of the world.
"At the same time they are a celebrating the life of a gallant fighter, an ANC leader and leader of the South African people," she said.
Ms Dlamini-Zuma, who served as health minister in democratic South Africa’s first Cabinet under Mandela in 1994, said she had learnt much from working with Mandela. He had understood that South Africa’s struggle was linked to the African continent and the world.
Mr Mandela “hated oppression of one by another” and was the “father of modern South Africa, and a fine son of Africa and the world”, she said.
“You have lived a beautiful life … This is a better world than the one you were born in,” she added.
Even in his absence, she said, Mandela would be "watching over us and guiding us".
Messages from the Brics
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the first Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leader to speak officially on Tuesday, described Mandela as “the most outstanding personality of the 21st century”.
Speaking in her native Portuguese, Ms Rousseff first greeted Ms Machel, who is also the widow of former Mozambican president Samora Machel who was killed in an aeroplane crash, allegedly by the apartheid government. Mozambique was a Portuguese colony, and the language is its lingua franca.
Mandela was “a model for all those who fight for justice, freedom and equality”, and he fought tirelessly against the “most elaborate and cruel system of inequality and oppression of modern times”, Ms Rousseff said.
She described him as a “key reference” figure for the world, full of stoic and enduring passion. Brazilians proudly carried African blood and celebrated this man who changed the world, she said.
Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao, who sent condolences on behalf of the nation’s President Xi Jinping, said Mandela had been “the pride of the African people”, who strived for the liberty of the continent’s people, dedicating his entire life to the development and progress of Africa.
Speaking of the man who tread lightly the narrow thread between China and Taiwan, Mr Yuanchao said Mandela had been “a friend of the Chinese people who had committed himself to South Africa-Chinese relations”.
South Africa’s relationship with Taiwan has greatly diminished since Mandela’s term of office ended in 1999 and Mr Mbeki took the helm.
Mr Yuanchao said China was “glad” to see South Africa’s rise as a global power. This rise was greatly boosted by China’s inviting South Africa to join the so-called Bric emerging nations in December 2010, creating the formation now known as Brics.
“China is ready to work with South Africa to bring benefits to both (South Africa and China) and to contribute to world peace,” he said.
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s speech was embarrassingly interrupted by Mr Ramaphosa of the ANC, who had to call on a brass band to cease playing.
Mandela had pursued the impossible, Mr Mukherjee said.
“He pursued an impossible goal for his people. We, in India, have long admired him and all that he stood for, and we will always cherish him,” he said. “Nelson Mandela was a visionary. He epitomised uncommon human ways that inspired all of mankind.”
Franny Rabkin, Sue Blaine, Natasha Marrian, Setumo Stone, Khulekani Magubane and Colleen Goko, with Sapa, Sapa-AP
