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NPR
As President Obama travels to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's memorial service on Tuesday, it might seem as though Mandela was an eternal object of admiration for U.S. presidents and the American public. But that wasn't the case by a long shot.During Mandela's 27 years behind bars, successive U.S. administrations worked with, or at least tolerated, South Africa's white leaders. Only in his final years of incarceration did Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement become a cause that that gained traction in the United States.
In 1981, when apartheid was still in full force, President Ronald Reagan told CBS that he supported the South African government because it was "a country that has stood by us in every war we've ever fought, a country that, strategically, is essential to the free world in its production of minerals."
Al Jazeera America
Nelson Mandela was an “inspiration for defenders of liberty,” a free-market champion, an anti-imperialist radical, the leader of a “terrorist” group or a communist, depending on who you believe.It's certainly rare that an international figure, upon his death, is eulogized by both Presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush and the Communist Party of the United States.
From his release from prison in 1990 (and before that as well) to his death on Dec. 5, Mandela was able to capture the imagination and attention of world leaders and citizens from disparate backgrounds, countries and political persuasions in a way few others could.
The near universal praise showered on Mandela after his death on Dec. 5 says a lot about the power — and also the flexibility — of his image: Mandela was able to unite people across national and political boundaries. Millions around the globe from many different political persuasions have been inspired by his story of imprisonment for his ideals and his triumphant release to assume the presidency and set his country on the path to reconciliation.
DW
Some South Africans here say they are sad that they are so far away from home at this time Africans in Germany say they prefer to celebrate his life rather than grieve over his death. For many of them he remains a hero.It is a normal business day in Munich but not for the South African Consulate. The office was busy receiving well-wishers wanting to express sympathy and their condolences at the death of Nelson Mandela.
South Africa's Consul General in Munich, Mathula Magubane, told DW she was numb when she first heard the news of the Madiba's death. She has fond memories of him and what she calls the ‘Madiba Jive’.
“He was such a multifaceted man. I would say my favourite thought is him doing what we called the Madiba Jive. Him dancing and chatting with children,” she said.
Spiegel Online
With Nelson Mandela's passing, the world has lost one of the past century's great leaders, a man who fought oppression and spent decades in prison in his battle against apartheid. In the end, he was forced to watch as his successors jeopardized his life's work.Nelson Mandela wanted to withdraw into the land of his fathers. As he got older, the man who changed the face of Africa like no other loved to gaze out on the tranquil hilly landscape of the province of Eastern Cape. But instead of gently passing away in his modest home in the village of Qunu, Mandela died after a long struggle in his house in Johannesburg, which was surrounded by the media.
USA Today
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Presidents and grandchildren will join a massive throng of mourners Tuesday for a tribute to Nelson Mandela, the embodiment of this nation's struggle for democracy and champion of human rights.On Monday, police and the government were bracing for the crush of mourners at the soccer stadium where the service would take place. South Africans would be met with high-level security measures to protect heads of state that included President Obama, India President Pranab Mukherjee and Cuban President Raul Castro.
The stadium seats nearly 100,000 people. Overflow crowds were expected to push that number far higher. Several "overflow" stadiums had been established.
BBC
Nelson Mandela's daughter Makaziwe has told the BBC about the "wonderful" final hours of the former president, who died aged 95 last Thursday.Ms Mandela said his wife Graca, the children and grandchildren were all there to say goodbye.
South Africa is observing a series of commemorations over the next week, leading up to the funeral on Sunday.
More than 100 current or former heads of state or government will attend the funeral or Tuesday's national memorial.
Makaziwe Mandela told the BBC's Komla Dumor: "Until the last moment he had us, you know... The children were there, the grandchildren were there, Graca was there, so we are always around him and even at the last moment, we were sitting with him on Thursday the whole day."
Reuters
World leaders, from U.S. President Barack Obama to Cuba's Raul Castro, will pay homage to Nelson Mandela at a mass memorial in South Africa on Tuesday that will recall his gift for bringing enemies together across political and racial divides.Obama and Castro, whose countries maintain an ideological enmity lasting more than 50 years, are among the designated orators at a Johannesburg soccer stadium where 23 years earlier Mandela - freshly freed from apartheid jail - was hailed by cheering supporters as the hope for a new South Africa.
Coinciding with U.N.-designated Human Rights Day, the memorial service for Mandela in the 95,000-seat Soccer City stadium is the centerpiece of a week of mourning for the globally-admired statesman, who died on Thursday aged 95.