Mandela buried at ancestral home

John Simpson reports on the funeral service according to BBC News. Continue reading the main story   


Nelson Mandela's body has been laid to rest in a family plot, after political and religious leaders paid tribute to South Africa's first black president at a state funeral service.

His widow, Graca Machel, and President Jacob Zuma were present for the private, traditional Xhosa burial at Mr Mandela's ancestral home in Qunu.

Mr Zuma had earlier told the larger funeral service that South Africans had to take his legacy forward.        Mr Mandela died on 5 December aged 95.

The last of 10 days of commemorations for Mr Mandela began with his coffin being taken on a gun carriage from his home to a giant marquee where his portrait hung behind 95 candles - each representing a year of his life.

              Earlier some 4,500 people - including foreign dignitaries - attended the state funeral

President Zuma sat between Mr Mandela's widow Graca Machel and his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-      Mandela
The coffin, draped in the South African flag,
 was placed beneath a lectern
 where speakers paid their tributes.

Some guests sang and danced to
 celebrate Mr Mandela's life as the service began.

After the national anthem, the service 

heard from a family spokesman,

 Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima,

 who thanked the army medical

 team that had treated Mr Mandela before he died.

"A great tree has fallen, he is now going
 home to rest with his forefathers.

We thank them for lending us such an icon."
Close friend Ahmed Kathrada,
 told mourners he had lost an "elder brother"
who was with him for many
 years in prison on Robben island.

Mr Kathrada's voice filled with
 emotion as he spoke of the difficulty
 of recent months and of how
 he had held his friend's hand
 the last time he saw him in hospital.

"Farewell my dear brother, my mentor,
 my leader," he said.

Two grandchildren then addressed
 the congregation. Ndaba who
 read an obituaryhttp://www.mandela.gov.za/funeral/funeralprog.pdf, and Nandi, who
 spoke fondly
 of her grandfather as a disciplinarian.

"We shall miss you... your stern voice
 when you are not pleased with our
 behaviour.

 We shall miss your laughter," said Nandi.
Listening to the tributes were
 Graca Machel and Mr Mandela's second wife,
 Winnie-Madikizela Mandela.

They sat either side of President Jacob Zuma.
Both women were praised for
 their love and tolerance, in an
address by Malawi's President Joyce Banda.

African National Congress members,
 veterans of the fight against apartheid
 and foreign dignitaries - including several
African presidents and the
 Prince of Wales - were among the guests.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu - a long-time
 friend of Nelson Mandela - was also
 there, as was US talk-show host Oprah Winfrey.