Nelson Mandela Dies at 95, World Mourns South Africa's Former President
South Africans are mourning the death of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, the country's first black president, who died Thursday at the age of 95.
Many woke to the news Friday, hours after President Jacob Zuma announced Mandela had "passed on peacefully" in the company of his family.
Dressed in black, Zuma made the statement in a nationally televised address that South Africa "has lost its greatest son and our people have lost a father."
"That is indeed the moment of our deepest sorrow. Yet it must also be the moment of our greatest determination. A determination to live as Madiba has lived, to strive as Madiba has strived and to not rest until we have realized his vision of a truly united South Africa, a peaceful and prosperous Africa, and a better world," said Zuma, referring to Mandela by his nickname.
Reaction to the Death of Nelson Mandela
1/13People sing and dance during a gathering of mourners on Vilakazi Street in Soweto, Dec. 6, 2013.
2/13A young girl with a poster of Nelson Mandela marches with others to celebrate his life, in the street outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, Dec. 6, 2013.
3/13Township residents march to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela in the street outside his old house in Soweto, Johannesburg, Dec. 6, 2013.
4/13A woman cries as she holds a candle and a flower outside former South African President Nelson Mandela's house in Houghton, Dec. 5, 2013a
5/13A girl holds a South African national flag as people mourn the death of Nelson Mandela outside Cape Town City Hall, Dec. 6, 2013.
6/13Rian Venter holds purple sachets, syringes and a plastic sheath that moments ago contained a lactate solution used by a doctor giving intravenous relief to a patient with a life-threatening liver condition at West Gauteng Hospice. (VOA / D. Taylor)
7/13Newspapers with pictures of Nelson Mandela on the front page on sale in London, Dec. 6, 2013.
8/13Schoolchildren hold candles and portraits of Nelson Mandela during a prayer ceremony at a school in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, Dec. 6, 2013.
9/13A woman with a banner pays tribute to Nelson Mandela outside the South African High Commission in London, Dec. 6, 2013.
10/13People release paper lanterns after lighting them outside Madiba, a restaurant named in honor of Nelson Mandela, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Dec. 5, 2013.
11/13Dexter Newcomb begins cleanup at his house in Scituate, Massachusetts the day after a winter storm left his neighborhood coated in frozen sea spray, snow and sand.
12/13A man holds candles in front of a mural of former South African President Nelson Mandela and U.S. President Barack Obama in New York, Dec. 5, 2013.
13/13Pedestrians pass beneath the Apollo Theater marquee commemorating the life of South African leader Nelson Mandela in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, Dec. 5, 2013.
Previous slide
Next slide
He said flags will be flown at half staff and Mandela will be given a state funeral, which is expected to follow a period of national mourning.
Scores of world leaders and celebrities are expected to travel to South Africa for the funeral. Mandela was respected around the world for his activism.
Crowds have already gathered outside Mandela's home in Johannesburg, where people sang, danced, and paid their respects in the South African tradition.
Mandela spent nearly three decades in prison for his role in fighting to end white minority rule and official discrimination against blacks in South Africa.
After his release, he emerged as a revered symbol of peace and reconciliation and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. The following year, he became South Africa's first black president.
Mandela, who contracted tuberculosis during his nearly three decades of incarceration, was hospitalized repeatedly during the past several years, most recently for a recurring lung infection.
The African National Congress, which Mandela joined in 1943 and whose youth league he co-founded, said in a statement that South Africa had lost "a colossus and epitome of humility, equality, justice and peace."
Mandela served as the ANC's president from 1991 to 1997. He was South Africa's president from 1994 until he retired from public life in 1999.
