Mandela emerged
from 27 years in prison under the white racist government in 1990, appealed for
forgiveness and reconciliation and became president in 1994 after the country's
first all-race democratic elections.
People lined the
streets to watch the procession drive slowly to the Union Buildings. They sang
old songs from the struggle against the apartheid regime and called out their
farewells to Mandela, who died Dec. 5 at the age of 95. Traffic was backed up for
several kilometers (miles) on a highway leading into Pretoria.
President Jacob
Zuma named the amphitheater after Mandela by decree Tuesday. The Union
Buildings, described by the South African government as a "modern-day
acropolis," sit atop a hill overlooking Pretoria. The architect who
designed it envisioned its two wings, made of half a million cubic feet (14,100
cubic meters) of stone, representing the Afrikaans and English languages spoken
in the country - but none of the land's native languages.
Even from its
inception, the building long has been considered a symbol of governance in the
country - and of apartheid until Mandela took office.
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