In spite of steady rain, thousands of mourners converged on Soweto’s famous FNB Stadium yesterday, to pay tribute to world statesman, Nelson Mandela.

A sea of umbrellas added to the colour as mourners whistled, sang and danced while proceedings at the 80,000 seat venue was delayed as the South African President Jacob Zuma and many other current and former heads of state entered.

Zuma, who is reeling from the so-called Nkandlagate scandal after it was established that he spent US$ 20 million of taxpayers’ money to refurbish his private residence, was loudly jeered by mourners in the full glare of international guests.

In a marked contrast, Zuma’s predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and Mandela’s predecessor, FR De Klerk, the country’s last white leader, received widespread applause.

In a speech, Zuma’s deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa urged the crowd to show restraint and respect Mandela’s legacy.

“We should show the same level of discipline Madiba exuded,” said Ramaphosa.

According to the our source, there was a moving moment when Mandela’s former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, embraced Graca Machel, the former Mozambican First Lady who married Mandela on his 80th birthday.

Both women were at his bedside when he died last Thursday.

US President Barack Obama shook hands with Cuba’s Raul Castro at the Memorial for Nelson Mandela, a rare gesture between the leaders of the ideologically opposed nations.

Castro smiled as Obama moved to shake his hand on the way to the podium before making a rousing speech in memory of the former South African president.

The gesture between Obama and Castro was a reflection of the anti-apartheid hero’s spirit of reconciliation.

Zimbabwean leader, Robert Mugabe also received wide applause from the raucous crowd in the half-filled 95,000-seat stadium.

Speaking yards away from communist leader Castro and Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao, Obama chided those who embraced Mandela’s struggle against oppression yet suppressed opposition and critics in their own countries.

“There are too many of us who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality,” “There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people,” he said.

Relations between Cuba and the US have been frozen since, soon after Cuba’s 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro, who handed power to his brother Raul in 2008 because of ill-health.

Washington has maintained economic sanctions against the communist-ruled island for more than half a century.

The only previous known handshake between US and Cuba Presidents since the revolution was in 2000 at the UN, when Fidel Castro shook the hand of then-US President Bill Clinton in a chance encounter.

Renowned Accountant, Senator David Dafinone (left), welcoming outgoing Managing Partner, Horwath Dafinone (Chartered Accountants), Mr. Praveen Bhasin, during a cocktail party to honour Bhasin and usher-in the new management team in Lagos last Friday. Photo: NAN