Thousands of people thronged the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday to pay tribute to former South African President Nelson Mandela who died last week at the age of 95.

Incidentally, the official memorial service for the Nobel Peace Prize winner and champion for equality happened to be held on Human Rights Day, observed annually on 10 December.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the ceremony honouring the man who emerged from nearly three decades of imprisonment to become South Africa’s first black President and first democratically-elected leader.

In eulogizing Mr. Mandela, the Secretary-General also saluted the “rainbow nation” he helped to create by overthrowing the racist system of segregation known as apartheid.

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