Revealed: Funeral plans for Nelson Mandela

Daily Mirror

South Africa, 30 June 2013:  Nelson Mandela’s funeral will take place up to 12 days after he passes away because of the enormous organisational difficulties involved. The Daily Mirror has seen detailed plans of the arrangements that would follow the death of the former South African leader. These include a massive memorial service in the 94,000 seat football stadium which hosted the 2010 World Cup final. The South African government’s original plan was for Mandela to be buried exactly 10 days after his death. But one source described the arrangements as a “logistical nightmare” so it could now be as many as 12 days later.

 

The plans discovered were:

» Mandela’s body is to be moved to a  military hospital on the outskirts of Pretoria.

» Books of condolences to be opened at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and other cities.

» His body will be then left to lie in State for three days allowing members of the public to file past.

» He will then be buried in his home village in Qunu before 450 dignitaries and relatives. A source said: “After Madiba dies his body will be transported reasonably quickly to One Military Hospital on the outskirts of Pretoria. Each province will have their own memorial service but the main one will be in ’Soccer City’ in Johannesburg where Spain won the 2010 World Cup. “It is the biggest stadium in Africa and can hold 94,700 people. We are working on plans on how to handle the distribution of tickets to the millions of people who will attend.”