South African President Jacob Zuma has announced that the funeral of anti-apartheid revolutionary, Nelson Mandela would be held at his ancestral home in the Eastern Cape on 15 December.
The 95-year-old former South African president passed away at his home in Johannesburg on Thursday, after fighting a lung infection. The death of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has left the world in mourning.
Jacob Zuma also announced that a memorial service in honor of the legend would be held on 10 December at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium, the venue that hosted the 2010 World Cup final.
"We will spend the week mourning his passing. We will also spend it celebrating a life well lived," Zuma told Reuters.
The mortal remains of the anti-apartheid hero will be put to rest in his ancestral village of Qunu, where his three children and close relatives were buried.
The death of Mandela has instilled fears in the minds of many, who think racism could return to the country following Mandela's demise.
"It's not going to be good, hey! I think it's going to become a more racist country. People will turn on each other and chase foreigners away," Sharon Qubeka, 28, a secretary from Tembisa township, told Reuters. "Mandela was the only one who kept things together."
South Africa is going through a hard phase of late, with protests over corruption, unemployment, crime, poverty and other social issues increasing by the day.
However, former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, a veteran anti-apartheid campaigner, said that South Africa would remain strong.
"To suggest that South Africa might go up in flames - as some have predicted - is to discredit South Africans and Madiba's legacy," Tutu told Reuters on Thursday. "The sun will rise tomorrow, and the next day and the next ... It may not appear as bright as yesterday, but life will carry on."
