Nelson Mandela’s final journey is over as his casket arrives at his home village

10 years ago | Posted in: World | 723 Views

The mortal remains of Nelson Mandela were returned yesterday to the place he loved best.

Over the past week it has sometimes seemed that everyone was trying to claim a piece of the great man – and that dignity was sometimes lacking – but he was at last back among his own people. In the little time left before he is committed to the ground today, the elders of his tribe have promised to do things differently.

His final journey to his farm in the sleepy village of Qunu, his ancestral home in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape, lasted all day.

In an operation led by the military, the journey began at dawn at Pretoria’s air force base Waterkloof, where 1,000 members of the ANC gave him an exuberant send-off, with singing and dancing beneath a hangar decked out in the party colours of green, black and gold.

Accompanied by family members, tribal elders and senior government figures, the coffin was then flown 550 miles to Mthatha airport, about 20 miles from Qunu.

Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, and his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela travelled separately from the coffin, in accordance with tribal tradition, and were seen comforting each other as it arrived… see more

source: dailymail UK

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