World leaders file past Mandela’s coffin

World leaders were the first to file past for a final look at him in the amphitheatre where he was sworn in 19 years earlier as the country’s first black president.

Some made the sign of the cross, others simply spent a few moments gazing at Mr Mandela’s face through a glass bubble atop the coffin at the Union Buildings, the government offices in Pretoria.

Leaders including Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, South African president Jacob Zuma and others passed by in two lines. Four junior naval officers in white uniforms kept watch.

Celebrities such as U2 singer Bono and model Naomi Campbell also paid their respects, as did FW de Klerk, the last president of white rule who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mr Mandela in 1993 for ending the apartheid era.

Mr Mandela’s widow Graca Machel, his former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and other family members also viewed his body.

Police motorcycle officers had escorted the hearse from a military hospital outside Pretoria to the Union Buildings. People lined the streets to watch the procession, singing old songs from the struggle against the apartheid regime and calling out their farewells.

Mr Mandela’s body will lie in state for three days. His body will be flown on Saturday to Qunu, his home in the Eastern Cape Province and he will be buried on Sunday.

Meanwhile a row has broken out over a man giving sign language interpretation at the memorial service for Mr Mandela who has been accused of being a fake. Bruno Druchen, the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa, said the unnamed man “was moving his hands around but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for”.

Other problems included public transport breakdowns which caused delays for mourners and a faulty audio system, while some did not face security searches.