South Africans on Tuesday began streaming into a stadium in Soweto township near Johannesburg for a huge memorial service for Nelson Mandela that will be attended by dozens of world leaders.
Rain was bucketing down on the open-air venue as people gathered to pay their respects to the anti-apartheid icon, who died last week at the age of 95.
US President Barack Obama, China’s Vice-President Li Yuanchao, President Raul Castro of Cuba and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are among the dignitaries who will address the service, along with South African President Jacob Zuma and some of Mandela’s grandchildren.
The event in the township, where Mandela once lived, is set to be one of the biggest in South Africa’s history.
FNB Stadium, where Mandela made his last public appearance at the final of the 2010 football World Cup, has a capacity of 94,000.
Giant screens have been set up in several nearby stadiums to accommodate the overflow, as police prepared to turn people away once the venue fills up. Dozens of more public viewing sites have been set up across the country.
Despite the bad weather the mood was celebratory, with people singing anti-apartheid songs and dancing in the stands as they waited for the service to begin at 11 am (0900 GMT).
Many waved national flags or banners with slogans expressing their affection for the country’s first black President, who spent 27 years in prison for defying white minority rule and became a force for peace and reconciliation on his release.
Security was tight ahead of the four-hour memorial. Hundreds of police officers and other security officials had cordoned off roads around the stadium and helicopters buzzed overhead.
The service will begin with the singing of the South African national anthem by a mass choir.
Mandela’s grandchildren and dignitaries will then pay tribute.
Mandela died at his home in Johannesburg on December 5 after a lengthy illness.
The Nobel peace laureate is survived by his wife Graca Machel, his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, three daughters, 18 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
His body will lie in state in the capital Pretoria from Wednesday to Friday and then be flown to the Eastern Cape for burial in his ancestral village of Qunu. At least 5,000 people are expected at the funeral.