PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ― The casket of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, draped in the multi-colored South African flag, arrived Wednesday at the seat of power in the country’s capital for public viewing.
Motorcycle-riding police officers escorted the casket from a military hospital outside of Pretoria to the Union Buildings, once a symbol of the racist, white-dominated government in the country. When Mandela took office in 1994, he used the building as his offices and the presidency is still located there.
Some residents of Pretoria lined the streets to watch the procession go by. They sang old songs from the struggle against the apartheid regime and called out their farewells to Mandela, who died Dec. 5 at the age of 95.
Soldiers in formal uniforms carried Mandela’s casket into the Union Buildings to a special viewing center built on the grounds in front of the building, which President Jacob Zuma named after Mandela by decree Tuesday.
Mandela’s grandson Mandla and Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula led mourners into the viewing area. Soldiers set down the coffin and removed the flag.
After the mourners left, four South African navy officers stood guard over the body.
Mandela’s body will lie in state for three days. Later Wednesday, Mandela family members, government officials and world leaders are expected to pass by the coffin. It’s unclear whether it will be an open- or closed-casket viewing, though officials have banned cameras from being inside the viewing area.
Each day, Mandela’s coffin will be driven back to 1 Military Hospital to be held overnight.
Mandela’s body will be flown Saturday to Qunu, his home in the Eastern Cape Province. He will be buried Sunday.
On Tuesday, world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, eulogized Mandela. In his speech, Obama called Mandela “the last great liberator of the 20th century.”
“We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,” Obama said. “But let me say to the young people of Africa, and young people around the world ― you can make his life’s work your own.”
