>> the last time that i saw him was actually at the inauguration of president jacob zuma. it was a passing on of the torch first to m becky, then to jacob zuma, but he was still the moral force that will held that country together and he still is and will continue to be. >> and we are almost out of time. i've got to throw this into you. you knew the mandela days. there's been a lot of disappointment in thao mbeki and jacob zuma on management levels and personality wise. do you think nelson mandela would have been happy with the country he's left behind now? >> no, he would never be happy until the hungry are fed and the naked clothed and the sick are healed. but they start the out with a nation where 85% of the people were discriminated against. they're probably now down to 70% of the people hole still in poverty. but we have in this nation probably 30% of the people are still in poverty. so we've got a long way to go. >> ambassador young, thank you so much for your time. >> fascinating >> other world leaders have been inspired by mandela's ability to fib his enemies. a ma

we heard the announcement from jacob zuma, the president of south africa. we want to welcome our viewers who may just be tuning in here in the united states and around the world. we'll have special breaking news coverage of the death of nelson mandela here in "the situation room." we're watching what's going on, christiane and robyn kurnow is in johannesburg watching what's going on as well. we will only now begin, christiane, to get reaction. i'm sure that leaders around the world will want to speak out and pay their special respects to this world leader, from the president of the united states, the leaders in europe, africa, all over the world. it's only just beginning now. >> reporter: that's right. indeed, president zuma paid tribute to how much nelson mandela had been embraced by the world, that he was also the global representation of this relentless and unyielding struggle for freedom and justice, and he never gave up. i remember, you know, watching him being released from prison from very far away, from here in new york, watching the television, and

members speaking and the main appreciation and tribute will be read by current south african president jacob zuma all taking place tomorrow. this is a massive stadium. it holds, we're told, around 95,000 people. we're told that ordinary south africans, there's no tickets or anything to get in. first come, first served. that's going to be a very coveted line to be in tonight waiting till the early hours of tomorrow morning. south african time. of course, there will be many screens around the country for people to be able to follow that memorial service. we don't know how long it's going to last. it's budgeted to last a few hours. it may go on for many, many hours longer than that. i think also so important, you mentioned robin was talking about zelda la grange and her own feelings as white south africans. it imd roos me of that incredible thing he told a journalist, while i was in prison my hatred for the white people decreased but my hatred for the system increases. so he was committed to toppling that system but then of course, why does everybody love him and respect him? because he was abl

>> reporter: very controversial moment, in fact, those boos of jacob zuma, the president of south africa. also, people were making this sign and anyone who watches sports knows that's to make a substitute. there is a lot of anger here in south africa with the current administration. south africa has moved on a long way since apartheid. many of those racial divides have been closed, but there is also a big problem with poverty. less than 1% of white south africans are in poverty but that number for black south africans, nearly half of black south africans so that divide is still there. many people i've spoken to through this week expressing disappointment that the current anc government hasn't done more to bring those people up. but certainly, the predominant feeling this week is one of mourning and of celebration of this great man, nelson mandela, and certainly, people will be looking forward to the next several days of commemoration in pretoria and at his hometown later this week. >> i was expecting that stadium to be packed, jam-packed. i know the weather was bad, it was raining, but t

associated press the fake interpreting k34i9ed something similar last year at an esanta attended by jacob zuma. i'll be back in two hours. i turns over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." \s. >>> right now why it mike make america's enemies nerve out. >>> behind the scenes on air force one, candid images of the remarkable flight carries president obama, president bush, and hillary clinton to south africa. what went on? >>> i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with chilling new video and details of the final seconds of asiana flight 214. federal investigators have released this previously unseen surveillance recording, showing the plane's tail hitting a sea wall. three people were killed in the july accident. hundreds were injured. now we're learning there were repeated warnings in the cockpit of looming disaster, but why didn't those warnings prevent the crash? cnn's rene marsh has details. >> the details make you shake your head and ask, how could this happen? the pilots got the warning. they were aware they were going down too fast, but the problem wasn't corr

the south africa of today, there are issues here when president jacob zuma was here. he is in power, of course. that's always going to make you a little bit sideways with the people you govern, no matter what country you're in. where is south africa today in terms of realizing the dream of nelson mandela, robyn? >> you have to talk to various different south africans. i think this is a country that is very focused on itself at the moment and that very question. jake on zuma is a very different leader to nelson mandela. and many people are concerned that he doesn't embody the visi visionry, the reconciliation that we saw from nelson mandela. was he just an aberration? is south africa no longer exceptional, just another, ordinary midlevel country? >> i think most people would say no. >> i think no. i'm asking that as a question. this happened, corruption, poverty happens everywhere in the world. why are we more critical here of it now 20 years after mandela? >> i think in short, the achievements are lasting and incredible. >> yes. >> democracy, that has been established

he's been used in at least one other major public event here with jacob zuma. >> i stephen colbert. >> reporter: the controversy fodder for light-night comedians. >> is a scam artist or very, very bad at his job? >> reporter: he says he's employed by south africa's translators, a company in south africa. we're still trying to get to the bottom of how he ended up at the memorial. the anc is saying they didn't hire to be at the event. >> it's confounding this happened. >> right. >> i think the sad reality is there are a lot of people who are watching this event that missed out on hearing the speeches and experiencing the memorial because he wasn't signing what was happening. >> right. >> i think that's why there's been so much outrage about this. interesting to note, there have been complaints about him in the past. >> when he was in front of the president jacob zuma was he interpreting the right way? >> it's believed he wasn't. there had been complaints in the past. it's mind boggling he could be there at this point standing feet away from heads of state, including president obama. >>

i think it's a challenge for the anc there, a challenge for jacob zuma to learn the lessons and move on. >> we've been hearing a lot of wonderful personal stories. we talk about the global impact, the personal stories the people have with the man, the figure, the father. what was your first impression of him when you started your journey with him. >> i had a funny first meeting with him. i was walking with him on "long walk to freedom." he came out of prison, he was unsophisticated about things. he told me about when they first held sound mikes over him, he held his head back like this. he thought it was a weapon. he didn't know what it was. after our first meeting, i said we'll have to have many, many meetings like this. he said, i don't have time for that. i stormed out. i thought, my god, the whole project was over with. when i apologized to him, i said, i have been he was in prison for 27 years, a lovely person to be around, he was sunny and he was a happy warrior and it's very hard to be out of his presence once you've been with him for a long time. >> i want to talk about the n

his mom and grandfather were in on it but his dad and brothers, jacob and jona and josh were truly overcome with emotion when he walked out. taylor has been serving in afghanistan and hasn't been home in a year. >> wow. >> so sweet. >> you can see that. >> they're upping the game on these surprises for families. >> you can see their emotions. >> people getting deployed two, three, four -- i don't have to tell you. >> over a decade of this. it's rough. >> keep going. there's so much strain on the families. there's not a lot of attention about it on the news. the more attention they can get, the better. >> let's continue the joy of that beautiful moment with a check of the weather. the beautiful christmas weather, indra, please. >> look at that spirit. i give her one little gift and she's like, yeah. let's talk about this system making its way offshore. this was the troublemaker, the one we all dealt with over the weekend. this guy is making its way offshore and should not be a problem anymore. where are we going to see snow? tiny little wave. a bigger system, the clipper that's expected to m