People across South Africa are taking part
in a national day of prayer and reflection in
honour of Nelson Mandela, who died last
week.

The former president and anti-apartheid hero
passed away peacefully on Thursday (local
time) at the age of 95 after a year-long battle
with a lung infection.
President Jacob Zuma has called on South
Africans to come together in stadiums, halls,
churches, temples, synagogues or simply in
public spaces to remember and celebrate the life
of Mandela, also known by his clan name of
Madiba.
Although crowds have already been out in
many towns and cities, the government and the
ruling African National Congress (ANC) party
want to make more scattered communities feel
intimately involved.
Lindiwe Zulu, a senior member of the ANC,
told ABC News 24 the mood in South Africa is
sombre and celebratory at the same time.
"This is the man that assisted us to have
reconciliation in South Africa. This is a man
that took us from a very difficult situation into
the current South Africa in which we live
today," she said.
"We remember him for all his resilience and we
remember him particularly because, despite the
27 years of incarceration, he came out being the
man that managed to get us in the African
National Congress - or in all the liberation
movements - to think about reconciliation, to
work towards a new South Africa that is
democratic, non-racial and non-sexist."
The largest public event during the country's
national week of mourning will be on Tuesday,
when a national memorial service is held at the
Johannesburg stadium that hosted the 2010
World Cup final.
But one South African government minister is
predicting the 95,000-seat stadium will be
overwhelmed.
The public event will also attended by world
leaders and dignitaries, including Prime
Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader
Bill Shorten.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon will also
travel to Johannesburg for the memorial service,
as will US president Barack Obama and former
presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton and
Jimmy Carter.
From Wednesday to Friday, Mandela's body
will lie in state in the capital Pretoria before he
is laid to rest next Sunday in Qunu, the village
of his childhood.





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