Mandela bring down curtain on historic World Cup

JOHANNESBURG - Soccer City stadium swelled with emotion and pride Sunday evening as South African liberation icon Nelson Mandela and a host of musicians and dancers, led by Colombian popstar Shakira, brought down the curtain on an historic World Cup.

The 89,000-seat stadium, which was painted orange and red for the Netherlands-Spain final, erupted in cheers and vuvuzela blowing as Mandela was driven onto the pitch with his wife Graca Machel in a golf cart before the game.

Dressed in a black winter coat and wearing a black fur hat and black gloves, the 91-year-old former president smiled and waved as the cart performed a lap of honour. Some fans choked back tears at the sight of the frail icon, who turns 92 in a week’s time.

Mandela, the symbol of South African democracy, was key in landing the first World Cup in Africa but was forced to miss the opening ceremony on June 11 following the tragic death of his great grand-daughter in a car crash.

His appearance at the final lent the perfect finishing touch to a World Cup that has furthered his legacy of uniting previously segregated South Africans.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison for resisting white supremacist rule and worked tirelessly from the moment of his release in 1990 to promote reconciliation.

The scenes of unity that have characterized this World Cup have drawn comparisons with the euphoric 1995 Rugby World Cup, where he inspired blacks to get behind the victorious Springboks team, previously a symbol of white domination.

The closing ceremony was attended by a number of other VIPs, including President Jacob Zuma, Queen Sofia of Spain and several African heads of state and was watched by hundreds of millions of TV viewers worldwide.

Shakira led African performers in an audiovisual adieu to a tournament being praised as well-run and very festive.

Dressed in a grass skirt and beaded halter top, the Colombian star, who also also performed at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, performed her Cameroonian-inspired World Cup anthem Waka Waka with Afropop band Freshlyground.

Grammy winning a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo blessed the final with their song “Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain”, a good omen in Africa.

As they sang, 13 make-believe elephants inhabited by people ambled across the pitch to drink at a video-projection of a watering hole. The ceremony also replayed key moments from the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Soccer City, which is shaped like an African cooking pot, has witnessed some of the most emotional moments in the tournament so far, including the opening game on June 11 and the fall of Africa’s last hope, Ghana, to Uruguay in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals.