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South Africa unites in prayer for Mandela

A woman and a man dressed in traditional clothes dance as they take part in a commemorative ceremony in honor of late South African leader Nelson Mandela/AFP

A woman and a man dressed in traditional clothes dance as they take part in a commemorative ceremony in honor of late South African leader Nelson Mandela/AFP

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 8 – South Africans were to gather in churches, mosques, temples and synagogues on Sunday to remember Nelson Mandela, whose message of peace and reconciliation transcended race and religion.

The nationwide day of prayer marks the formal start of a week-long state funeral for the man who forged a new multi-racial South Africa from the discredited remnants of the apartheid era he helped to dismantle.

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will attend a memorial service in Johannesburg on Tuesday, a White House official said, one of a growing number of world leaders set to fly in to pay their respects to the anti-apartheid hero.

The commemorations will culminate in Mandela’s burial on December 15 in Qunu – the rural village where he spent his early childhood.
President Jacob Zuma has stressed that Sunday’s services should move beyond grief and openly celebrate the legacy of Mandela who died Thursday after a long illness, aged 95.

“We should, while mourning, also sing at the top of our voices, dance and do whatever we want to do, to celebrate the life of this outstanding revolutionary,” Zuma said.

The president was to attend prayers at a Methodist Church in a predominantly white Johannesburg neighbourhood, while former president Thabo Mbeki was to join prayers at a synagogue in the city.

A large congregation was also expected at the country’s largest Catholic Church in the once blacks-only township of Soweto.

The prayers were to be echoed a continent away in London, where Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, will lead a remembrance service.

Mandela’s health had been in serious decline for some time, but his death still came as a deep shock to South Africans whose attachment to their first black leader was profound and deeply personal.

Since the news of his death broke, his Johannesburg residence has become something of a pilgrimage site, with thousands coming to pay private tribute.

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