An Iroko Has Fallen As Mandela Is Laid To Rest

“A great tree has fallen,” said Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima during the funeral service that included barnstorming speeches referring to the continent’s anti-colonial struggles, as well as Mandela's impact around the globe.

The funeral drew 4,500 guests to the village of Qunu, from relatives and South African leaders to Britain's Prince Charles, U.S. civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.  Retired Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, fellow Nobel peace laureate and close friend of Mandela's, also attended after an apparent misunderstanding about his participation was resolved. Air Force helicopters and planes performed a flypast during the burial in the family graveyard.

As Mandela was taken to his final resting place, Zulu tribesmen gathered and started dancing a traditional funeral dance as a tribute.“Millions of people around the world have had their own Madiba moment,” said trade union leader and politician Cyril Ramaphosa during the earlier gathering held under a cavernous canopy, referring to Mandela by his clan name.