south african president jacob zuma said our nation has lost its greatest son. our people have lost a father. mandela's hospital has been moved. this is the scene right outside mandela's home there in johannesburg in the out market neighborhood. you can see right now people are laying flowers and to bring tribute to the man widely seen as the father of modern south africa. he was president for five years. he stepped down, has not been president for 14 years but remains very much in the heart of so many people there. this news came later than night south african time and so right now as this country wakes up, 34 minutes past 8:00, many people are learning nelson mandela is at rest. >> and, of course, mandela accomplished so many great things. he was the father of a nation. he led south africa through its battle against oppression and on to democracy and it kept him away from home. he also stayed very close to his family as we've mentioned our robyn curnow has covered nelson mandela since 1996 and she joins us now, once again, live from johanns burg did talk to hi

>> 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

president jacob zuma, deputy president makalnta and former president bnaki. thank you, thank you, thank you. former president f.w. de klerk.

we also have video of this same interpreter next to president jacob can be zum mallast year. this isn't a man who appeared once. it's someone close to the government for some time. we should also mention that president. zuma is facing corruption charges in other areas. that's a massive complaint people have in this country about the government. unfortunately, it may be showing that south africa today is a far cry of that of nelson mandela years ago. >> errol, it it is puzzling and troubling. they've got a lot of questions to be answered. it doesn't make any sense what happened there. erroll, thank you very much. we appreciate it. as he mentioned, nelson mandela now in his final resting place. his funeral was held over the weekend in a village where he grew up. about 4500 people pack aid huge at the present time for the ceremony mandela was buried near the graves of three of his children. >> a 30-foot bronze statue of mandela was unveiled in pretoria as part of today's national day of reb conciliation. he was sworn in as president in the city nearly 20 years ago. it's beautifu

joseph, the son of jacob. the son of isaac. the son of abraham was thrown into a pit with snakes by his brothers. full of hatred and jealousy towards them and then he was sold into slavery and compiled from his father and from his home for 22 years. many of which -- >> i think he was more a methodist if i'm not mistaken but a man of strong religious faith out wardly. >> no. his family told me he wasn't a man of faith. he believed in infinity. what is key about mandela when you look to him and his sense of himself and where he got his strength from, where, in fact, he got his spirituality from was the rural roots, his african traditional existence. we will say it over and over again. his childhood was filled with rituals and ceremonies and that still was very much in the way he thought even as he, you know, emerged as a modern man, you know, with a law degree and he became president. this is why there is this wonderful mixture of faith that is more deeply rooted in these ancient traditions of africa. >> we have to take a break.

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

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

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. >>

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

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