"Come home Mandela, the sun has set." These were the painful wails of a woman who was part of a crowd of villagers who welcomed Nelson Mandela's coffin back to his ancestral home of Qunu.
They had been waiting along the highway leading to his home all day. Women dressed in traditional Xhosa clothing danced and sang songs about Madiba, asking him to watch over them from the spirit world.
One of those gathered said she believed his presence back home would bring good fortune to this modest village. But some expressed unhappiness that they would not be allowed to attend the ceremony because of a strict guest list.
"How can you have a guest list for a funeral, that is unAfrican," an elderly woman told me. According to local traditions, everyone is welcome at a funeral and the more, the better.
Another woman who lived a few houses away from Mr Mandela's home said she would miss his generosity. "At Christmas time Tatomkhulu (grandfather) would give us clothes for our children".
"He was our Christ," she said crying.
There are mixed emotions here, a sense of deep loss, punctuated by a sense of pride that a global icon was born of these simple people.
Pumza Fihlani
Pumza Fihlani
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