Nelson Mandela: London pays its
respects outside South Africa House.
Flowers, singing and a vuvuzela: London’s mourners give their thanks at
South Africa House for Nelson Mandela, writes Michael Deacon.
Outside South Africa House on Trafalgar Square, a group of women, each
draped in a South African flag, were singing and clapping.
Another woman, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with his face, clutched a
vuvuzela. The queue to sign the book of condolence stretched round the
block. By the gates were heaped countless bouquets; mourners lit candles and
left posters, scarves, cards. Some messages were quotations from the man
himself; others read, simply, “Thank you.” London was paying its respects to
Nelson Mandela.
Among the hundreds to sign the book of condolence at South Africa House was
David Cameron.
“Your cause of fighting for freedom and against discrimination, your
struggle for justice, your triumph against adversity – these things will
inspire generations to come,” the Prime Minister wrote. “And through all of
this, your generosity, compassion and profound sense of forgiveness have
given us all lessons to learn and live by.
Mr Cameron finished by quoting Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers for
they shall be called the children of God.”
Also visiting South Africa House was Boris Johnson, who told reporters that
Mr Mandela should be revered as a secular saint. “If there was a secular
system of canonisation in today’s world,” said the Mayor of London, “Nelson
Mandela would be at the top of the list.”
In decades past, he conceded, some Conservatives had reviled Mr Mandela and
described him as a terrorist. “That was clearly wrong,” said Mr Johnson,
“because what he was doing was opposing an absolutely vile system of
government, and he did it by deploying the power of forgiveness.” He
himself, he added, had “never in my life deviated from the position of
fervent admiration” for Mr Mandela; modern Conservatives, he said, felt the
same respect.
Visiting Britain in 1996 as President of South Africa, Mr Mandela addressed
Parliament in Westminster Hall. On Monday MPs will pay tribute to him in the
Commons during a specially organised debate. A service of thanksgiving for
his life will be held at Westminster Abbey after the state funeral in South
Africa on Sunday December 15.
The Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow, placed a book of condolence in the
Commons Library for MPs and members of parliamentary staff to sign. As a
student in the 1980s, Mr Bercow joined the Federation of Conservative
Students, among whose membership were many vocal critics of Mr Mandela.
Yesterday, though, the Speaker described him as “an inspiration not only for
his nation and for Africa, but for the world”.
In Parliament Square, the statue of the late statesman – unveiled in 2007 –
stood almost engulfed in flowers. Around its feet lay flags, Springboks
scarves, commemorative editions of the morning’s newspapers. Scores of
people gathered to take pictures.
One young woman even clambered on to the plinth and, eyes tightly closed,
gave the statue a hug.
It was an image that somehow summed up the mourners’ mood: grief overcome by
love.