Nelson Mandela: locals revive struggle spirit to pay respects to the son of Soweto Mandela lived in the rough and tumble black township from 1946. His home was a a tiny redbrick house numbered 8115 on Vilakazi Street that he shared with second wife Winnie, and where he returned briefly after he was released from prison in 1990. Dorcas Sekoiti, a retired nursing sister, paid her respects early in the day but returned to the street later on because she said she could not stay at home when so many were celebrating. I came back now for the atmosphere, to be with people as they share their memories. He was the best of men as he had no grudges. He wanted to bring South Africa together so that no one was isolated," she said. Njoku-Sakhile Mazwi, 28, was born in Soweto but now lives in Sandton, a wealthy Johannesburg suburb. He said he had long expected Mr Mandela to die, but now that it had happened he was shocked by howe moved he was by the old man's death. Mr. Mandela's death is unreal, it all feels unreal. I still can't believe it. Now I am an investment banker, and so I am a product of the democracy that Mandela brought us. However bad we feel today, his death is not going to change anything in South Africa now. It will go on. Mandela moved to Soweto - an abbreviation for South Western Township - in the early days of its creation as compulsory housing for blacks moved out of more salubrious areas by the white authorities. Members of the ANC Womens League hold candles and sings songs in memory of Nelson Mandela (AFP) Bishop Desmond Tutu once lived nearby and and around the corner from Vilakazi Street is where the first child was shot dead by riot police in the 1976 massacre that broadcast the brutality of apartheid regime to the world. Soweto's children then possessed little apart from their courage, but today's looked healthy and well-dressed. Girls with lipstick and streaks in their hair captured the celebrations of Mandela's passing on smart phones and digital cameras. The entrepreneurial spirit of the new South Africa was also in evidence outside the house, where vendors did a brisk trade selling Mandela posters, table cloths, T-shirts, plaques, beads, and many other icons marking his life. "We are making money today, yes, for sure, and stocks are low, but it was quiet for some time now, so we need this business," said Lesedi Mlazi, a street hawker who was hoping the tourists would increase in the next few days. We are mourning yes, but we knew it was coming so today, so we must think about him, we must remember and we must sing and celebrate. Dorothy Sefako, who lives in one of the poorest parts of Soweto, is a veteran member of Mr Mandela's African National Congress. Dressed in party colours, she said South Africans must celebrate Mandela's life. They should honour his legacy by living a life like his and the youth of today must learn lessons Mandela taught us, and settle down and study and build good, strong lives. Among the mourners was Sister Theresa Marie Healey, a Dominican sister from Manchester, who lived in Soweto in the 1970s when it was a virtual no-go zone for foreigners, who has worked in the area on and off ever since. This is almost home. We were part of the struggle. I was here during 1976 when they shot the children. We saw then how the people marched and protested. It was all they could do to overcome their fear," she recalled. Visitors came all over the world. Japanese, French and German visitors clogged up the entrance to the two-room house, which can not measure more than 8 yards by 5 yards and has a tin bath tub in the back yard. Veronique Van Hille, 57, from Bordeaux in France, said visiting Mr Mandela's old home was "the highlight," and a fantastic moment of her first trip to South Africa. Our guide told us this morning he had died, so we came here. What a fantastic ambiance. I had goose bumps when I got here but when I heard the singing it calmed me. I want my sister in France to know where I am today. In three hours" time she will be in the plane back to France." Away from the throng, an old South African man was leaning against a wall. "Oh, what a day is this," he reflected. Will there ever be another one? Another Mandela? The world loved him, I think, not only us. I think we lost something very bad today.