Official funeral events Death of Nelson Mandela

1 official funeral events

1.1 day of prayer , reflection
1.2 state memorial service

1.2.1 sign language interpretation
1.2.2 booing of president jacob zuma
1.2.3 obama–castro handshake
1.2.4 obama–thorning-schmidt–cameron selfie


1.3 lying in state
1.4 state funeral, qunu

official funeral events

members of public paying respects outside mandela s houghton home.



south african flag flying half-mast outside drakenstein correctional centre mandela imprisoned 1988 release in 1990.



the largest south african flag flying half-mast @ donkin reserve, port elizabeth.



us president barack obama delivering speech @ mandela s state memorial service.



members of public queueing view mandela s body @ union buildings.



qunu village in eastern cape, mandela s funeral held on 15 december 2013.

the south african government announced period of 10 days of national mourning ending state funeral on 15 december 2013. zuma ordered flags on government buildings flown @ half-mast duration of period.

on 9 december government confirmed @ least 80 foreign heads of state , government travel south africa attend events. african heads of state confirmed attending include prime minister of lesotho, president of mozambique, president of namibia, president of niger, president of nigeria, prime minister of swaziland, president of tanzania, president of tunisia, president of uganda, president of zimbabwe, , president of zambia. nkosazana dlamini-zuma attended in capacity chairperson of african union commission.

other notable guests include president of united states , 3 former presidents of united states; president of india; prime minister of italy; vice president of china; president of brazil; president of france; president of ireland; prime minister of united kingdom; president of germany; prime minister of australia; 2 former governors general of canada, prime minister of canada, , 4 former prime ministers of canada; prime minister of jamaica; prime minister of jordan; , president of afghanistan. royal dignitaries attending include, king of netherlands, king of belgium, prince of wales, prince of asturias, crown prince of denmark, crown princess of sweden, crown prince of norway, crown prince of japan, , queen rania of jordan.

day of prayer , reflection

the south african government declared sunday, 8 december 2013 observed national day of prayer , reflection.

we call upon our people gather in halls, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues , in homes prayer services , meditation, reflecting on life of madiba , contribution our country , world.

state memorial service

the official memorial service held @ fnb stadium in johannesburg on tuesday, 10 december 2013 commencing @ 11:00 local time (utc+2). 91 heads of state , government; , 10 retired presidents expected attend service.

sign language interpretation

in characterised national embarrassment, during memorial service became evident official sign language interpreter, thamsanqa jantjie, fake. deafsa, south african association deaf, stated jantjie had made mockery of south african sign language , deaf community in outrage . jantjie, stood on memorial stage alongside world leaders throughout event, made meaningless hand gestures did not reflect established signs. how jantjie had obtained job , received security clearance raised questions bureaucratic mismanagement.

on 12 december, jantjie apologised if had offended anyone, explaining performance impaired due hallucination brought on schizophrenia. added suffers violent tendencies , stated had been hospitalised in mental health facility 19 months, beginning around 2006. nonetheless, maintained performed well, calling himself champion of sign language .

the same day, deputy minister women, children , people disabilities hendrietta bogopane-zulu admitted, in process, , in speed of event, mistake happened. however, rejected view jantjie fraud, stating, should not fake interpreter because have basic sign language translation qualification. started off , got tired in process ... [h]e has interpreted deaf people in court before , able communicate deaf friends well. s (on day) did not sign expected of him. south african news broadcaster enca alleges between 1994 , 2003 jantjie charged, not sentenced, various crimes ranging rape , housebreaking attempted murder , kidnapping. according report sentenced 3 years in prison theft other charges dropped judged mentally unfit stand trial.

booing of president jacob zuma

south african president jacob zuma unexpectedly booed , jeered in crowd, though other sections cheered him. booing faded when zuma addressed crowd. negative reaction reportedly stemmed public anger on corruption scandals have tainted zuma , government. current anc leadership viewed not living mandela s celebrated legacy.

obama–castro handshake

united states president barack obama shook hands cuban leader raúl castro, first such encounter between sitting u.s. , cuban heads of government since bill clinton , fidel castro shook hands @ u.n. in 2000. gesture prompted criticism republican politicians in washington. congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen, cuban-american opponent of castro government, said: handshake handshake, when leader of free world shakes bloody hand of ruthless dictator raul castro, becomes propaganda coup tyrant. senator john mccain compared obama–castro handshake british prime minister neville chamberlain s handshake adolf hitler when 2 in process of negotiating munich agreement in 1938 saying, neville chamberlain shook hands hitler. gives raul propaganda continue prop dictatorial, brutal regime, s . cuban government welcomed gesture, although white house said had been unplanned.

obama–thorning-schmidt–cameron selfie

along obama, helle thorning-schmidt , david cameron—the respective leaders of usa, denmark , uk faced criticism on social media had behaved inappropriately after posing selfie taken using thorning-schmidt s mobile phone. defending actions, thorning-schmidt said, there lots of pictures taken day, , thought bit fun. maybe shows when meet heads of state , government, people have fun. cameron said being polite when thorning-schmidt asked him take part in picture.

lying in state

mandela s body lay in state @ union buildings in pretoria 11 13 december 2013. approximately 100,000 mourners viewed mandela s body on 3 days. crowds grew larger each day , thousands queued on final day not accommodated , turned away. nelson mandela s grandson, mandla mandela, remained grandfather s body 3 days, in accordance abathembu tradition, requires adult male family member remain body until burial.

state funeral, qunu

the state funeral held on 15 december 2013 in qunu in eastern cape. ceremony held in large tent in qunu erected event , attended 4,500 people, including various heads of state , foreign dignitaries. ceremony televised on south african television until burial, when filming , broadcast stopped @ advance request of mandela family. ceremony shown on big screens set in public viewing spaces around area.

the burial part of funeral programme attended 450 selected people, including relatives , chosen dignitaries. shortly before burial, nelson mandela given 21 gun salute , missing man formation flyover fighter jets.