Ban to attend Mandela memorial at FNB Stadium

 
UN Chief, Ban Ki Moon, will travel directly from Paris to participate in a memorial ceremony at Johannesburg's Soccer City on Tuesday.(REUTERS)

UN Chief, Ban Ki Moon, will travel to South Africa to attend a memorial to honour former President, Nelson Mandela, at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Mandela died at his Houghton home on Thursday evening.

Ban is currently in France attending a summit on peace and security in Africa and will travel directly from Paris to participate in a memorial ceremony at Johannesburg's Soccer City on Tuesday.

The Secretary General earlier referred to Madiba as a giant for justice.

Civil Rights Leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson, has also indicated he will travel to South Africa for the funeral next Sunday.

Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton will also be in South Africa this week but it remains unclear which ceremonies they will participate in.

Official memorials services will be held in New York and Washington in Wednesday.

Locally, preparations for memorial services are well underway in different provinces in honour of Nelson Mandela. The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says provincial leaders will attend church services on Sunday, and memorial services will be held across the province next week.

  Sunday has been declared the National Day of Prayer and Reflection for Madiba. 

Provincial ANC Secretary, Sihle Zikalala, says party leaders will be part of church services across the province
“We want to emphasise that these celebrations should be beyond party affiliation.”

The main provincial memorial service will be in Durban on Friday, but it will be preceded by smaller ones in regions during the week.

“We remember former President Mandela as a reconciler.”

Buses are expected to be arranged for Qunu for some of those wishing to attend the funeral on Sunday.

The ANC in the Eastern Cape also says it will hold a series of events in memory of the late Nelson Mandela, in the build up to his funeral. This transpired at a meeting between the party and its allies at ANC provincial headquarters in King William's Town.

Meanwhile, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, says one way of honouring Nelson Mandela will be for South Africans to continue fighting the scourge of HIV/Aids. Motlanthe spoke to SABC News in Cape Town where he attended an International Conference on Aids.