/ 12 December 2013

Thousands queue for day two of Madiba viewing

Thousands of mourners have travelled to the Union Buildings to pay their respects to Mandela.
Thousands of mourners have travelled to the Union Buildings to pay their respects to Mandela.

Members of the public began filing past the body of former president Nelson Mandela as it lay in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday morning.

Several people in wheelchairs were escorted and a young child was carried on the back of an adult man.

A woman draped in an ANC flag waved the national flag as she passed the coffin. One man ignored the quick flow of viewers to stand silently for a few moments with his hand on his heart, staring intently at the body of South Africa's first democratic president.

The procession of people was marked by the stark silence in which they filed past.

Earlier, South African National Defence Force members saluted the coffin as they were the first allowed in to view his body lying in state for the second day.

Sombre mood
Mandela's coffin was displayed in a roofed structure open on two sides. It was watched over by four military guards standing with their heads bowed.

Large displays of white flowers were placed on the sides of the structure.

People were walking up the road to the Union Buildings in sombre and lengthy, but orderly lines.

Earlier, Madiba's grandson Mandla Mandela accompanied the coffin as it was carried from the hearse to the amphitheatre.

Mandela would be transported from One Military Hospital to the Union Buildings on a daily basis until Friday.

Members of the public were invited to line the route and form a public guard of honour while his body was being transported.

The public would be able to view the body from 8am to 5.30pm.

Mandela died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, last Thursday, at the age of 95.

The official memorial service was held at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday, and was attended by 100 current and former heads of state and government.

He would be buried in Qunu in the Eastern Cape on Sunday.

Noteworthy people that have joined the kilometre-long queues for the shuttles that are ferrying mourners to the Union Buildings include suspended Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and anti-apartheid activist Jay Naidoo. – Sapa