The Wireless

Farewell Madiba

08:43 am on 11 December 2013

Tens of thousands of people have paid tribute to Nelson Mandela at a memorial service held in driving rain in Johannesburg.

The first president of a multi-racial South Africa died last Thursday, aged 95.

Introducing the proceedings, master of ceremonies Cyril Ramaphosa said that Mandela's "long walk is over... and he can finally rest".

US President Barack Obama said Mandela had taught the world the power of action and the power of ideas, and that it had taken a man like Mandela to free not only the prisoner but also the jailer.

On his way to the podium, Obama shook hands with Cuba President Raul Castro, an unprecedented gesture between the leaders of two nations that have been at loggerheads for more than half a century.

In his address, Castro, whose brother Fidel was a staunch apartheid critic, paid tribute to Mandela as the "ultimate symbol of dignity and the revolutionary struggle".