Nelson Mandela immortalized in Pretoria

A day after Nelson Mandela was buried; the South Africa's first black president was immortalized with his statue unveiled in the capital, Pretoria.

 

The nine-metre (30ft) bronze statue has been erected at the Union Buildings, the government headquarters.

 

The statue, with Nelson Mandela's hands reaching outward, was intended to show that he had embraced the whole nation, President Jacob Zuma said.

 

The statue was unveiled on South Africa's Day of Reconciliation, a public holiday which marks the end of racial conflict in South Africa.

 

"Former President Mandela is associated with the promotion of reconciliation which is why the day was chosen for the unveiling," the government said.

 

December 16 was called the Day of Covenant during white minority rule to honour the victory of Afrikaners over a Zulu army in an 1838 clash known as the Battle of Blood River.

 

More than a century later, on 16 December 1961, Mr Mandela launched an armed group, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), to fight South Africa's white minority rule. 

It led to his arrest and imprisonment for 27 years.

 

At the end of minority rule when he became president in 1994, he later used the day to urge South Africans to set aside their differences and to unite.

During his address at the funeral on Sunday, Mr Zuma pledged to build on Mr Mandela's legacy.

"As your journey ends today, ours must continue in earnest... South Africa will continue to rise because we dare not fail you," he said.