More than 1Â 500 people converged on the Michaelhouse school in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on Thursday for the funeral of renowned historian David Rattray.
The school’s chapel was packed to capacity and more than a thousand people had to watch the funeral service on big-screen television under a marquee in the school grounds.
Family spokesperson Mark Read said shortly before the service: ”I have never come across a man who loved his country with such depth.”
He said the family were thankful to the media ”for the subtlety” shown towards the family.
Read said there was a great sense of relief at Rattray’s Fugitive’s Drift lodge when news broke that two men had been arrested.
Earlier on Thursday head of the KwaZulu-Natal organised-crime unit Director Johann Booysen said the two men arrested on Wednesday will appear in court on Friday on charges of murder.
The funeral service was also being covered by international media, including a large contingent of journalists and photographers from Britain.
Rattray was to be buried in a simple plain white coffin with a small bouquet of flowers on top. — Sapa