President Robert Mugabe will Tuesday join over 90 current and former heads of state and government from around the world for the memorial service of former South African president Nelson Mandela at the giant Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.
South Africa was racing on Monday to meet the unprecedented logistical challenge of hosting dozens of world leaders flying in for the state funeral of Nelson Mandela. Clayson Monyela, the government’s head of public diplomacy, said: “The world literally is coming to South Africa.
“I don’t think it has ever happened before”.
Some 91 heads of state and government, including Barack Obama, are descending on the country. Many will join the 80,000 people expected to cram on Tuesday into the FNB stadium in Soweto for a sweeping, emotional tribute to their inspirational first black president.
Mandela’s body will lie in state at the Union Buildings, the seat of government in Pretoria, from Wednesday to Friday, followed by his funeral and burial in Qunu next Sunday.
Among those who have already indicated that they will be coming to South Africa are U.S. President Barack Obama and his two predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will also travel to Johannesburg for the memorial service.
Other leaders and dignitaries who have confirmed that they are coming include French President Francois Hollande, Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff, Cyprus’ Parliamentary Speaker, Yiannakis Omirou, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.
King Willem-Alexander and Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans will attend on behalf of the Netherlands.
The South African government warned that people who wished to attend the memorial service on Tuesday in the 95,000-seat FNB football stadium in Johannesburg could face being turned away, even at the overflow venues. The message arrived along with promises that at least 90 giant screens would be set up at “official mourning sites” in all of South Africa’s provinces.
A statement released by Pretoria stated: “People must accept that at some stage this capacity will be filled and police and other authorities will turn people away. Government is doing all it can to allow as many people as possible to be part of these official events, but there are limits to how many people we can reasonably accommodate.”
Roads have been closed around the country’s main cities and at Qunu, Mandela’s Eastern Cape home town, where the burial will take place. Roads there have been closed for several miles around Mandela’s pink-walled house, causing consternation to the huge media contingent with its camper vans, satellite dishes, tents and big vehicles.
