{South Africans were on Sunday set to unite in a nationwide day of prayer to mark the formal start of a week-long state funeral for Nelson Mandela, gathering in churches, mosques, temples and synagogues to remember the man whose message of peace and reconciliation transcended race and religion.}
US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will attend a memorial service in Johannesburg on Tuesday, a White House official said, one of a growing number of world leaders set to fly in to pay their respects to the anti-apartheid hero.
The commemorations will culminate in Mandela’s burial on December 15 in Qunu — the rural village where he spent his early childhood.
President Jacob Zuma has stressed that Sunday’s services should move beyond grief and openly celebrate the legacy of Mandela who died Thursday after a long illness, aged 95.
“We should, while mourning, also sing at the top of our voices, dance and do whatever we want to do, to celebrate the life of this outstanding revolutionary,” Zuma said.
The president was to attend prayers at a Methodist Church in a predominantly white Johannesburg neighbourhood, while former president Thabo Mbeki was to join prayers at a synagogue in the city.
A large congregation was also expected at the country’s largest Catholic church in the once blacks-only township of Soweto.
The prayers were to be echoed a continent away in London, where Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, will lead a remembrance service.
Mandela’s health had been in serious decline for some time, but his death still came as a deep shock to South Africans whose attachment to their first black leader was profound and deeply personal.
France24
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