Mandela's funeral on December 15, preparations begin
Pretoria, Nov 6, 2013 (PTI): The body of South Africa's anti- apartheid legend Nelson Mandela was today taken to a military hospital here as preparations for the December 15 state funeral of the peace icon began.
Mandela, South Africa's liberation hero and the first democratically elected president, died early today at his home in Johannesburg after battling a protracted illness.
Escorted by military motorcycle outriders, a black SUV carried Mandela's coffin, draped in South Africa's flag, to the military hospital's morgue from his home.
Mandela will lie in state at the seat of government the Union Buildings in the capital city of Pretoria.
In a television address to the nation, South African President Jacob Zuma said Mandela would be laid to rest on December 15 at Qunu in Eastern Cape province.
Funeral will draw a galaxy of leaders and other dignitaries from across the world.
Zuma, who earlier announced the demise of the 95-year-old Nobel laureate, ordered that all flags of the country fly at half-mast and remain that way until after the burial ceremony, the South African Government News Agency reported.
Mandela almost three months in hospital this year after being admitted to the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital in June with a recurring lung infection. He was discharged in September and was receiving home-based medical care.
Anti-apartheid icon Mandela dies at 95
Johannesburg, Dec 6 (IANS): South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has died, President Jacob Zuma announced here late Thursday. The Nobel laureate was 95.
Mandela had been receiving intense home-based medical care for a lung infection after three months in hospital. He led South Africa's transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, after having spent 27 years in prison, BBC reported.
In a statement on South African national TV, Zuma said Mandela had "departed" and was at peace. "Our nation has lost its greatest son."
Mandela would receive a full state funeral, and flags would be flown at half-mast, the president added.
According to BBC, Mandela's body will be moved to a mortuary in Pretoria, and the funeral is likely to take place next Saturday.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was one of the world's most revered statesmen. He had rarely been seen in public since officially retiring in 2004. He made his last public appearance in 2010, at the football World Cup in South Africa
"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves," Zuma said. "Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell."