President Nelson Mandela will on Thursday spend his first day in retirement on a plane winging his way to a secret holiday destination, a presidential aide said on Tuesday. The aide declined to say where the outgoing president, accompanied by his wife, Graca Machel, was headed. “He will be away for two weeks. Mrs Machel is taking the president on holiday.” Mandela would also spend some time in Maputo, the aide said. President Nelson Mandela’s last day in office, on Tuesday, was a very ordinary day, spent at his official residence in Pretoria, his aides said. He had lunch with American folk singer Harry Belafonte and was also briefed about Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony of his successor, Thabo Mbeki.