Flags were lowered to half-staff, a dozen doves were released into the sky, and crowds of South Africans gathered at make shift shrines on Friday, December 6th, 2013 to mourn the loss of their former president, Nelson Mandela, the man many considered the father of that nation.
Tributes continued to pour in from world leaders and ordinary citizens for the former Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-apartheid leader, who died Thursday December 5, 2013 at the age of 95. President Jacob Zuma, said Mandela, known affectionately by his clan name "Madiba" had died "peacefully" at around 8:50 p.m. while in the company of his family. He spent almost three months in a Pretoria hospital after being admitted in June with a recurring lung infection from which he never recovered. Mandela was then discharged in September and received home-based medical attention.
Hours after his death Thursday night, a black SUV-type vehicle containing Mandela's coffin, draped in South Africa's flag, pulled away from Mandela's home after midnight, escorted by military motorcycle outriders, to take the body to a military morgue in Pretoria, the capital.
Outside the Soweto home where Mandela once lived, and the Johannesburg home where he died, residents danced and sang tribal songs, the African national anthem, and Christian hymns. Others left flowers, candles, and signs in makeshift shrines. South African citizens in black townships, rural grasslands, and upscale mostly white suburbs commemorated Mandela with tears and prayers Friday, while pledging to adhere to the values of unity and democracy that he embodied. RIP Nelson Mandela 1918-2013.
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