{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.}<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The commemorations will culminate in Mandela’s burial on December 15 in Qunu — the rural village where he spent his early childhood.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A large congregation was also expected at the country’s largest Catholic church in the once blacks-only township of Soweto.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
France24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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