South Africa sets December 15 for Nelson Mandela funeral A weary looking Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president, said the outpouring of love was unprecedented and demonstrated the calibre of leader Mandela was. He said the country's first black president would be given a state funeral on December 15 at his rural home in the Eastern Cape province. A memorial service would also be held on Tuesday at the Johannesburg soccer stadium that hosted the 2010 World Cup final. "We should all work together to organise the most befitting funeral for this outstanding son of our country and the father of our nation," Mr Zuma said. We'll spend the week mourning his passing and . . . celebrating a life well lived and a life that we must all emulate for the betterment of our country and Africa. South Africans reacted to his death, which was announced late on Thursday when many were sleeping, with an emotional mixture of realism and grief. They were fully cognisant of the mortality of an ailing man of Mandela's years, while sad, and in some cases uncertain of the future, as the reality of such an iconic figure finally passing on sunk in. Yet his death is not expected to have a significant impact on the stability of Africa's largest economy as he had not been involved in politics for years and was increasingly frail with his demise accepted by most. On Friday, an unusually grey summer's day, business mostly continued as usual, albeit under a cloud of sorrow. "We are relieved that his suffering is over but our relief is drowned in our grief," an emotional Archbishop Desmond Tutu told reporters. He has taught us how to care together and believe in ourselves and each other. Still, while also mourning, many chose to celebrate the incredible life of their leader, who marked his 95th birthday earlier this year. "He's irreplaceable," said Paballo Thebe, in the township of Soweto where Mandela once lived. Recalling shaking the elder statesman's hand when he visited his school more than a decade ago, Mr Thebe said: "It [his presence] was like something I've not seen." "Like a prophet, like a super-being, that's how powerful he was," he added. He left something with me. Mandela attained legendary status after leading South Africa through the dramatic transition from apartheid to democracy. And the manner in which he relentlessly pursued reconciliation with his former oppressors in the apartheid regime, displaying no signs of bitterness after 27 years in prison, elevated him to a level of eminence that was unrivalled both at home and abroad. US President Barack Obama, UK's Prime Minister David Cameron, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II were among global dignitaries who lavished praise on Mandela. Tiger Woods, the US golf star, Mohammed Ali, the legendary boxer, and Morgan Freeman, who played Nelson Mandela in the film Invictus, lauded the former president. Mandela died on Thursday at his home in Houghton, an affluent suburb of Johannesburg, after spending months in a critical condition. He was first admitted to hospital in June suffering from a recurrence of a lung infection, the causes of which have been traced back to the years he spent incarcerated in Robben Island's notorious prison. Bill Clinton, the former US president, summed up the reverence in which Mandela was held by saying the elder statesman would be remembered "as a man of uncommon grace and compassion, for whom abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries was not just a political strategy but a way of life." World leader's reactions US President Barack Obama UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon Archbishop Desmond Tutu He was amazing in his selfless altruism for others, recognising - just as did a Mahatma Gandhi or a Dalai Lama - that a true leader exists not for self-aggrandisement but for the sake of those he or she is leading. Dalai Lama, exiled Tibetan spiritual leader "He was a man of courage, principle and unquestionable integrity, a great human being, someone of whom we can truly say, "he lived a meaningful life,"" the Buddhist cleric wrote in a letter to Mandela's family. Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition leader in Myanmar Who, like Mandela, spent years as a political prisoner described him as a man "who stood for human rights and for equality in this world."