Nelson Mandela death: South Africans pay tribute to national icon with celebration and sadness
JOHANNESBURG -- Flags were lowered to half-staff and people in black townships, in upscale mostly white suburbs and in South Africa's vast rural grasslands commemorated Nelson Mandela with song, tears and prayers on Friday while pledging to adhere to the values of unity and democracy that he embodied.
In Johannesburg, CBS News correspondent Debora Patta reported that despite the threat of storms, South Africans still continue to gather outside Mandela's home.
Many South Africans heard the news, which was announced on state TV by President Jacob Zuma wearing mourning black just before midnight, upon waking Friday, and they flocked to his home in Johannesburg's leafy Houghton neighborhood. One woman hugged her two sons over a floral tribute.
But the mood was as celebratory as solemn. Residents of the black township of Soweto gathered in the streets near the house where Mandela once lived, singing and dancing to celebrate his colossal life.
"We've seen tears of sadness, we've also seen tears of joy," Patta said.
From Harlem to Hollywood, Paris to Beijing, people hailed Mandela's indomitable courage in the face of adversity as an inspiration for all. In a testament to his universal appeal, political leaders of various stripes joined critics and activists in paying tribute to Mandela as a heroic force for peace and reconciliation.President Barack Obama said the former South African president "no longer belongs to us - he belongs to the ages."
"Humility. Have a purpose. Have a vision. Be prepared to sacrifice. Be prepared to listen to the other side." And, said Powell, "always be ready to change your mind, but never abandon your principals."
"(Mandela was) a great, great boss to have," Bono said. "If you're going to be told what to do, let it be Nelson Mandela."
A dozen doves were released into the skies in Johannesburg. A man walked around with a tall-stemmed sunflower. People sang tribal songs, the national anthem, God Bless Africa - the anthem of the anti-apartheid struggle - and Christian hymns. Many wore traditional garb of Zulu, Xhosa and South Africa's other ethnic groups. One carried a sign saying: "He will rule the universe with God." Jewish and Muslim leaders were also present.
One of the mourners, Ariel Sobel, said he was born in 1993, a year before Mandela was elected president.
"What I liked most about Mandela was his forgiveness, his passion, his diversity, the pact of what he did," Sobel said. "I am not worried about what will happen next. We will continue as a nation. We knew this was coming. We are prepared."
"All of us here in many ways amazed the world, a world that was expecting us to be devastated by a racial conflagration," Tutu said, recalling how Mandela helped unite South Africa as it dismantled apartheid, the cruel system of white minority rule, and prepared for all-race elections in 1994. In those elections, the anti-apartheid leader who spent 27 years in prison, became South Africa's first black president.
"God, thank you for the gift of Madiba," said Tutu in his closing his prayer, using Mandela's clan name.
Mandela was a "very human person" with a sense of humor who took interest in people around him, said F.W. de Klerk, South Africa's last apartheid-era president. The two men negotiated the end of apartheid, finding common cause in often tense circumstances, and shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Summarizing Mandela's legacy, de Klerk paraphrased Mandela's own words on eNCA television: "Never and never again should there be in South Africa the suppression of anyone by another."
Mourners also gathered outside Mandela's former home on Vilakazi Street in the city's black township of Soweto. Many were singing and dancing as they celebrated Mandela's life.
The liberation struggle icon's grandson, Mandla Mandela, said he is strengthened by the knowledge that his grandfather is finally at rest.
"All that I can do is thank God that I had a grandfather who loved and guided all of us in the family," Mandla Mandela said in a statement. "The best lesson that he taught all of us was the need for us to be prepared to be of service to our people."
"We in the family recognize that Madiba belongs not only to us but to the entire world. The messages we have received since last night have heartened and overwhelmed us," the grandson said.
Zelda la Grange, Mandela's personal assistant for almost two decades, said the elder statesman inspired people to forgive, reconcile, care, be selfless, tolerant, and to maintain dignity no matter what the circumstances.
"His legacy will not only live on in everything that has been named after him, the books, the images, the movies. It will live on in how we feel when we hear his name, the respect and love, the unity he inspired in us as a country, but particularly how we relate to one another," she said in a statement.
Helen Zille, leader of South Africa's official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, and premier of the Western Cape, the only province not controlled by the ANC, commented: "We all belong to the South African family - and we owe that sense of belonging to Madiba. That is his legacy. It is why there is an unparalleled outpouring of national grief at his passing. It is commensurate with the contribution he made to our country."
The ANC has postponed its national executive committee, scheduled for this weekend, following Mandela's death. Banks will close on the day of Mandela's funeral, said South Africa's banking association.