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Children pose in front of a poster of Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory in Houghton, Johannesburg. PHOTO/AFPnewvision A grieving South Africa started preparing Saturday to host a unique gathering of world leaders for Nelson Mandela's funeral, as his family expressed their profound sadness and loss at the anti-apartheid icon's death. Across the country, ordinary South Africans gathered in groups large and small, to both mourn and celebrate the life of the prisoner turned president who transformed their country and became a global symbol of hope and freedom. Presidents, religious leaders and cultural figureheads from all corners of the world are expected for the funeral, which will see a cortege with Mandela's coffin pass through the streets of Pretoria on three consecutive days. The memorials and events will culminate in Mandela's burial on December 1...

Nelson Mandela, who led the emancipation of South Africa from white minority rule and served as his country’s first black president, becoming an international emblem of dignity and forbearance, died Thursday. He was 95. Mr. Mandela had long declared he wanted a quiet exit, but the time he spent in a Pretoria hospital in recent months was a clamor of quarreling family, hungry news media, spotlight-seeking politicians and a national outpouring of affection and loss. The vigil even eclipsed a visit by President Obama, who paid homage to Mr. Mandela but decided not to intrude on the privacy of a dying man he considered his hero. Mr. Mandela will be buried, according to his wishes, in the village of Qunu, where he grew up. The exhumed remains of three of his children were reinterred there in early July under a court order, resolving a family squabble that had played out in the news media. Mr. Mandela’s quest for freedom took him from the court of tribal royalty to the liberation und...

Nigeria strengthened their credentials as the best team on the African continent when they defeated South Africa 2-0 in the Nelson Mandela Challenge at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. Substitute Uche Nwafor netted a brace as the Super eagles proved to be more clinical in front of goal, while Bafana were unable to convert their chances. The visitors unlocked the Bafana Bafana defence in the 11th minute with a long ball that almost fell for Nnamdi Oduamadi, but Itumeleng Khune came out of his line to make a brave interception before gathering the ball. Three minutes later it was the hosts who threatened with long range efforts at the other end but Reneilwe Letsholonyane saw his shot blocked on the edge of the box before Tshepo Masilela fired wide moments later. Gordon Igesund’s side had a much better chance to take the lead in the 24th minute when Bernard Parker broke through on the right before delivering a low ball across the goalmouth, but Siphiwe Tshabalala arrived late at the f...

Super Eagles head coach, Stephen Keshi is poised to give South Africans a good game in honour of Africa’s foremost nationalist, Nelson Mandela. The coach Keshi-led Eagles which has four home stars namely, Chigozie Agbim, Azubuike Egwueke, Sunday Mba and Godfrey Oboabona arrived Durban from Johannesburg this morning after a six-hour overnight flight from Lagos. Other early arrivals include Uche Nwafor, Efe Ambrose, Ogenyo Onazi and Brown Ideye. By lunch time, shola Ameobi strolled in along with stand in skipper, Austin Ejide. Three players, Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and Fegor Ogude are expected to join the team on Tuesday morning for friendly against Bafana Bafana, known as Mandela challenge which will be played at the Moses Mabhida stadium on Wednesday.

The build up to the August 14 Mandela Challenge prestige clash between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana has started to reach the real actors of the game, with Chelsea of England’s Victor Moses, declaring that he has missed his colleagues in the national team and cannot wait for the Mandale Challenge to reunite with them. Super Eagles Scribe Dayo Enebi Achor, was quoted by Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, as saying that Moses was the first player to put   a call though to the team to say he will be available for the game and will be among the first player to arrive South Africa for the game. Nigeria’s Midfielder Victor Moses vies with Ethiopia’s defender Biyadiglign Eliase during the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations Group C match at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg on January 29, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER JOE In consonance with renewed interest by the national team stars for the game, Obinna Nsofor, has been making desperate enquiries about his ret...

US President Barack Obama flew from Senegal to South Africa on Friday to pay homage to his hero Nelson Mandela, after a visit largely overshadowed by the fading health of the anti-apartheid icon. DAKAR - US President Barack Obama flew from Senegal to South Africa on Friday to pay homage to his hero Nelson Mandela, after a visit largely overshadowed by the fading health of the anti-apartheid icon. Obama spent three days in Dakar talking up African democracy and paying a poignant visit to Goree Island, a potent symbol of the slave trade, on the first leg of a three-nation tour of the continent which will also take in Tanzania. Mandela’s ill health means the two men, who shattered racial boundaries on either side of the Atlantic, will not hold a long-anticipated meeting for the cameras. Mandela, who turns 95 next month, was rushed to hospital three weeks ago with a recurrent lung infection. On the eve of Obama’s visit, South Africa’s first black president was said to be in a cri...

South Africa’s ailing icon Nelson Mandela, who has been in hospital for 10 days suffering a lung infection, is “doing very well”, one of his daughters said on Monday. “He is doing very well,” Zenani Mandela-Dlamini, South Africa’s ambassador to Argentina, told reporters gathered outside the Pretoria hospital treating the 94-year-old Mandela.

JOHANNESBURG- South African police on Tuesday tightened security at the Pretoria hospital where ailing anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was spending his fourth day in intensive care battling a lung infection. Around a dozen armed police stood guard outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in the capital, where the 94-year-old remained in “serious but stable” condition. Mandela, one of the greatest figures of the 20th century, is being treated for a recurrent lung infection that medical experts say could be life threatening. Tuesday marked 49 years to the day since he was sentenced to life in prison in 1964 for conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government.