PICTURES

Mandela’s body arrives at South Africa’s Union Buildings

Policemen take position along a street in Pretoria before former South African President Nelson Mandela's coffin is transported to the Union Buldings on Dec 11, 2013, marking the start of a three-day lying in state. -- PHOTO: AFP
Policemen take position along a street in Pretoria before former South African President Nelson Mandela's coffin is transported to the Union Buldings on Dec 11, 2013, marking the start of a three-day lying in state. -- PHOTO: AFP
The funeral cortege carrying the coffin of former South African President Nelson Mandela leaves the Military Hospital on the outskirts of Pretoria on Dec 11, 2013, on its way to the Union Buildings. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
The funeral cortege of South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela leaves the Military Hospital in Pretoria on Dec 11, 2013, marking the start of a three-day lying in state. -- PHOTO: AFP
The funeral cortege of South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela leaves the Military Hospital in Pretoria on Dec 11, 2013, marking the start of a three-day lying in state. -- PHOTO: AFP
The funeral cortege of South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela leaves the Military Hospital in Pretoria on Dec 11, 2013, marking the start of a three-day lying in state. -- PHOTO: AFP
The funeral cortege of former South African President Nelson Mandela leaves the Military Hospital in Pretoria on Dec 11, 2013. -- PHOTO: AFP

PRETORIA (REUTERS) - The body of former South African president Nelson Mandela arrived early on Wednesday at the Union Buildings in the country's capital of Pretoria, where the anti-apartheid hero will lie in state.

Thousands of people lined the streets as a procession of police motorcycles lead the black hearse carrying Mandela's coffin, draped in the South African flag.

Mr Mandela's death last Thursday at the age of 95 has sparked an outpouring of grief and mourning in the country he led from 1994 to 1999 as its first black president.

"This a significant moment for me and my children," said 48-year-old teacher Thapelo Dlamini, who had been waiting on the street for two hours with his two children.

Mr Mandela's body will lie in state for three days at the Union Buildings, where he was inaugurated as president in 1994 after the first all-race elections that ended decades of white-minority apartheid rule.

Traffic in Pretoria was gridlocked from early in the morning, and shops along the procession route were closed.

The road closures and snarled traffic were a disruption for some Pretoria residents.

"I am trying to pass through to get to work," said one woman. "I respect Mandela but the mourning has gone on for way too long. I don't think he would have liked this."

Mr Mandela will be buried on Sunday in Qunu, his ancestral home in the rolling hills of the Eastern Cape province, 700 km south of Johannesburg.

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