06/12/2013 BBC News at Ten

Sgljtsds South Africa and the world mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela.

The man described as the greatest leader of our time.

In South Africa, the sadness is mixed with celebration and thanks

for the man who brought them democracy. Thank you for the gift of

Madiba. Thank you for what he has enable

enabled us to know we can become. Here in Britain, people pay tribute

to a man whose impact was felt all over the world.

He lived this extraordinary life. A belief in this simple principal of

fighting discrimination. This extraordinary struggle of all those

years in prison. Then the immense triumph of against adversity.

There'll be a state funeral a week on Sunday. We are live in

Johannesburg with the latest. Also tonight - a lucky escape after the

worst tidal surge in 60 years as the east of England is left to count the

cost. A Royal Marine who killed a Taliban insurgent is lived a life

sentence for murder. And the moment England learnt who they will play in

next year's World Cup finals. And coming up in Sportsday on BBC

News: England face a difficult day as they try and save the second

Ashes Test. That is after Australia pile on the pressure on day two.

Good evening. Tributes have been pouring in from around the world for

the former South African leader, Nelson Mandela, who died yesterday.

The current President confirmed he'll be given a full state funeral

a week on Sunday. Tonight, we are in South Africa, where people have been

mourning, but also celebrating the life of the man they call the father

of the nation. We'll have reaction from Britain and elsewhere to the

passing of the man who made the journey from prisoner to President.

And we will look at Nelson Mandela's legacy in uniting South Africa after

years of apartheid. First tonight, our correspondent, Gabriel

Gatehouse, is in Johannesburg. What is the atmosphere there?

Well, I am standing just outside the house where a little over 24 hours

ago Nelson Mandela passed away and you can probably hear the dancing

and the singing in the background. These are old antiapartheid struggle

songs. Don't mistake this for happiness though. Flags are flagging

at half-mast across South Africa. This is a nation in mourning.

They come from all walks of life and from all communities to pay respects

outside the home of Nelson Mandela. The sense of bereavement is

palpable. For some, almost private, personal.

But this is also a coming together, a nation united in mourning, but

also in celebration of the life of the man they call Madiba.

People are celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela. I think that what he

would want us to do to celebrate his life. The world saw him at large. We

lived through him. We kept on holding on to that change that he

did. I hope with his spirit going, it lives and grows in us. As South

Africa prepares for a state funeral of unpress departmented proportions

-- unprecedented proportions thoughts turn to what sort of nation

Nelson Mandela leaves behind. We will always love Madiba for teaching

us that it is possible to overcome hatred and anger in order to build a

new nation and a new society. Nelson Mandela went to prison an

angry young man - a fighter, committed to defeating his enemies

by violence, if necessary. 27 years later, he emerged preaching

reconciliation, but he never gave up the struggle.

I have no doubt that each and every one of you, all these years, can say

with authority and confidence that I have travel travelled this long road

to freedom. I trust I did not falter.

I made miss-steps along the way, but I have discover discovered the

secret that after crossing a great hill one only finds that there are

many more hills to cross. In church today, Mr Mandela's

long-time collaborator in peace, Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave thanks

for a global icon. God, thank you for the gift of Madiba. Thank you

for what he has enabled us to know we can become.

For decades the struggle against apartheid looked like it might be

crushed by a brutal regime. A system that applied violence and racist

ideology in equal measure to oppress South Africa's black majority and

keep a white elite in power. Having won the battle against apartheid,

Nelson Mandela shared his victory with his former oppressors.

I think his greatest legacy, to South Africa and to the world, is

the emphasis which he has always put on the need for reconciliation.

It would be a hard heart indeed that wasn't moved by this spectacle,

these flowers, candles, these messages - many written by children

in in born in a post apartheid South Africa. Messages which boil down to

one thing, tata Madiba, thank you for freeing our country.

Though the race laws are gone, South Africa is still a land of vast

economic inequalities. In death, as in life, Nelson Mandela's unique

ability to bring people together and to lift their spirits remains

undimmed. In Britain, tributes to Nelson

Mandela came from across the political spectrum. The President

was the first to sign a book of condolence for Nelson Mandela in

South Africa House. He praised his generosity, humour and sense of

forgiveness. Our political editor examines the impact Nelson Mandela

made on British politics during the apartheid years and since. This

report contains some flash photography. In death, as in life,

he's a towering figure, who looks over Parliament alongside Winston

Churchill and Abraham Lincoln. To millions, he's more father-figure

than politician. A man with the power to move as well as to inspire.

This morning, the Prime Minister signed the official book of

condolence, ending a biblical quote - blessed are the peace makers. The

memory I have is his lack of malice towards those who had done this to

him. The Labour leader praised not just Mandela but those in Britain

who had fought apartheid. I remember all those people who were part of

his movement. He once said about Britain that it was the second

headquarters of the ANC in exile. On today of all days, people of all

parties and of none, unite in praising Nelson Mandela. During his

long struggle against apartheid, that was not always the case.

In the 1970s, rugby and cricket teams who agreed to play South

African touring sides were targeted. There were demands that British

companies and companies stopped invested in the regime. A leading

campaigner went on to become Britain's Minister for Africa. Many

countries in the west, including Britain and the United States almost

saw Nelson Mandela and the ANC as agents of Communist. That is the way

it was sense. Nelson Mandela had been in prison for 20 years when

Margaret Thatcher choose not to boycott South Africa, but welcome

her Prime Minister to Chequers. You don't want to always have the

stick to South Africa. I think she's a bit fed up of that. When she does

things we want her to do, I think we have to encourage her. She was

accused of giving respectability to a murderous regime. Her allies

insist she was acting to prevent more bloodshed. What we did was to

ensure, so far it was in our power, that apartheid ended peacefully.

That was what happened. Now, some people may say that was

despite our policy. I would like to think it was because of our policy.

Some will never forgive Mrs Thatcher for opposing sanctions and calling

Mr Mandela's ANC terrorists. Others point to letters that in private she

had for years argued for his release from prison.

Nelson Mandela was a regular visitor to London. Gordon Brown sought his

help when leading negotiations to make poverty history. He kindly came

over and he helped me negotiate a settlement on debt relief, with some

of the Finance Ministers of the world. Quietly, behind the scenes,

unreported, Nelson Mandela helping us bring about another great change

in the world. At the unveiling of his statue in Parliament Square,

Mandela recalled what he and an ally had said 45 years earlier. We have

hope that one day a statue of a black person would be erected here.

Freedom fighter, political prisoner, global statesman. Perhaps Mandela's

greatest achievement was to bring together those who once disagreed

violently. Thousands of people gathered outside

Nelson Mandela's former home in Soweto to celebrate his life. The

jops burg township was at -- Johannesburg township was at the

heart of the fight against apartheid.

Paying tribute to the father of the nation through song and dance.

Nelson Mandela was the reconcile ler. This is the very house that Mr

Mandela returned the to when he was released from prison, back in

February of 1990. We met one of Mr Mandela's

neighbours. We all know that... He told us how he took the

newly-released prisoner to meet those who lived the same street. I

went with Mandela to reintroduce him back to the

went with Mandela to reintroduce him back to neighbour s. To make them

aware he still loves them. When I wept to school here in Soweto in the

late 1970s and 1980s Mr Mandela over the road there, where you see that

crowd was still in prison. All this was dead road. This is why Soweto

embodied the spirit of the fight against apartheid. Mr Mandela

inspired this place to keep that fight going against racial

oppression. White South Africans feared after

Nelson Mandela's death they would face an uncertain future.

The men who succeeded Mandela as President told me that there is

nothing to fear. There are some people in the country who feel like

that, that when Mandela goes, then all hell will break lose.

It's wrong. People should not entertain this

fear that something disastrous will happen. Tonight, as the people

continue to celebrate Nelson Mandela's life through songs,

there's no doubt that his legacy in this place will live on for a long

time to come. Our world affairs editor is here

with me. You have met Mr Mandela. You interviewed him. What are your

personal recollections? I was just watching the report there and

thinking of the first time I met Mandela, in 1991. I met him quite a

lot of times over the years. I went to that house. I was an

hour-and-a-half late for the appointment. I thought, I am going

to find out whether he is a decent, nice human being or not. And I was

full of apologies, of course. He took me in. Put his arms around me

and all the time I was apologising, he was thanking me for my kindness.

Can you imagine - in coming to see him.

He just had that ability - I never found it in any other leader that I

have ever met - to treat you at the level that you could perhaps

possibly find it in your heart to be - not the flawed, ordinary, normal

failed person that you were, but the person you could be. He seemed to

treat you like that. I have a very good friend who has got a profoundly

disabled son and this friend goes to see Mandela, or used to go and see

Mandela a great deal. When Mandela found out about the son, he insisted

that my friend should bring him. He looked after him. He talked to him,

which was not easy. He fed him. I have interviewed and met a lot of

leaders, I cannot think of anybody who could do that kind of thing.

Thank you very much. Well, we will have more on the

passing of Nelson Mandela and developments in South Africa later

in the programme. But first tonight's other news now

and hundreds of properties have been flooded across the east coast of

England after a powerful storm triggered the worst tidal surge for

60 years. In Boston in Lincolnshire, people have begun to clear up the

damage caused when flood defences were breached last night. In

Norfolk, a number of properties fell into

Scarborough, on the north-east coast, and as the tidal surge came,

the driver of this vehicle only had seconds to save himself. He

clambered to safety as his van was carried out to sea. -- carried out

to sea. In North Wales, Rhyl was underwater. The lifeboat crews on

the roads were offering lifts to those in need.

In Hemsby in Norfolk, Holmes crashed into the sea. Others hung

precariously to the cliff side. Last night's tidal surge was the biggest

for 60 years. Steve lost everything when his home collapsed. We stood by

the patio doors here and we could see the kitchen fold, the

floorboards of the kitchen fold up. As the tide rose last night, he

fought to save his home, helped by friends and neighbours who formed a

human chain to rescue the family's belongings. We will leave it in

storage until we get sorted. What they salvaged is being stored in a

local pub until they find a new home. In Boston in Lincolnshire,

water cascaded into the town. For many, the day was spent clearing

the mess. I spent all year saving up to replace my furniture in my

lounge, it is all ruined. At this lifeboat station, the crew recorded

the moment they were overpowered by the sea. The rescuers almost needed

rescuing from the rising tide. In Great Yarmouth, defences held.

Officials checked on the sea wall at high tide to make sure. The

Environment Agency says flood defences and advanced warning saved

up to 800,000 homes along the East Coast. In Hemsby last night, they

watched as Holmes drifted out to sea. The community is once again

bracing itself against the tide. In Hemsby they have been campaigning

for a sea wall to be built and there is anger tonight, people say they

have been left down and left unprotected. -- have been let down.

In Scotland, snow and ice could be the next challenge.

A Royal Marine filmed killing a Taliban insurgent in cold blood has

been given a life sentence with a recommendation he serves a minimum

of ten years in prison. Sergeant Alexander Blackman was convicted

last month of murdering the Afghan in Helmand Province two years ago.

You may find some of our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale's

report distressing. Sergeant Al Blackman, a Marine with

a proud career and promising future. At least until what has been called

a moment of madness. His murder of a wounded Afghan fighter. Today in

court the same military panel that has already convicted him passed

sentence, life with a minimum of ten years in jail. The judge said, you

treated that Afghan man with contempt and murdered him in cold

blood. The crime was filmed on a helmet camera worn by one of the

Marines. These are the stills from the video played in court that, for

the first time, shows Sergeant Blackman's face. He can be heard

discussing what to do with the wounded Afghan prisoner lying out of

you. Then, I should warn you, he fires the fatal shot.

Shuffle off this mortal coil, you BLEEP .

Prince Charles has visited the scene where nine

that he betrayed his uniform and tarnished the British military's

reputation. He was marched out of court for the last time after being

informed that he was being dismissed with disgrace from Her Majesty's

servers. He is very sorry for any damage caused to the Royal Marines,

and he would like to thank the public for support shown to him and

his wife. Wii REPORTER: Will he be appealing?

Yes. These images filmed around the same time by another group of

Marines nearby gives the sense of what they faced, an area of Helmand

described in court as hell on earth, a reason why this case has proved

highly controversial. A friend says it was a relentless fight against a

ruthless enemy. I have spent the last two hours with Sergeant

Blackman and his wife as they awaited sentence. At heart, he is

still a Royal Marines commando, and their main ethos is to go in the

face of adversity. He was described by his commanding officer as not a

bad man with a normal citizen tainted only by the impact of war.

There's been a warning that that balancing the UK's finances could

become more difficult, as a result of measures announced by the

Chancellor George Osborne in yesterday's autumn statement. The

Institute for Fiscal Studies has suggested there will have to be

deeper public spending cuts and said it's unclear where the money for

some of the plans will come from. Let's get more on this with our

chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym.

The high road to recovery, that is what George Osborne says is his plan

for the UK. As he visited the JCB factory in Staffordshire today, he

was keen to stress the economy was growing in the right places. In the

Autumn Statement I set out a plan for a responsible recovery. The job

is not done, I want to make sure many more jobs are being created in

places like JCB, manufacturing businesses around Britain. But on

his plans to balance the books and achieve a surplus in five years,

there were questions from a leading think tank which are cute austerity

was needed. He says he wants a surplus in 2018/19, that is a big

additional cuts in public servers spending more, possibly, social

security spending. Assuming no tax rises, the IFA says that after

public servers cut of 2.3% a year between 2011 and 2016 that will have

to be 3.7% cuts for the next three years, or ?12 billion a year of

welfare cuts by 2019. After bruising exchanges in the Commons, the Shadow

Chancellor was back in the fray. Unless we can have stronger growth

working for more people, with living standards rising, we will not be

able to get the deficit down and invest in public services. Some

economists argue that growth has been too dependent on consumer

spending, fuelled by borrowing and people running down savings, with a

genuine recovery requiring more business investment and exports.

That as Christmas approaches, Mr Osborne will feel that some growth

is better than none. -- but as Christmas approaches.

Take a look at this - the reaction of the FA chairman Greg Dyke to

England's draw in the next year's World Cup in Brazil. England will

play Uruguay, Italy and Costa Rica. It's not just the draw that's

tough, England will have to play their opening game in Manaus, the

jungle city where humidity levels exceed 80%. Our sports editor David

Bond reports from the draw in Brazil.

Welcome to the World Cup, Brazilian style. Organisers have spent

millions of pounds converting this tropical beach resort in to the

venue for today's final draw. Much of the talk in recent days has been

of the country's problems and handling such a big global event,

but as the great and good of the game arrived, a sense at last of

excited anticipation. England manager Roy Hodgson was not only

worried about who England played but where, with the risk of having to

travel vast distances across the country. So the hope was that when

1966 World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst drew out the crucial ball, he

might give England a lucky break. England! Oh! FHM and Greg Dyke did

not hide what he thought. -- FA chairman Greg Dyke. First they will

play Italy in the heat and humidity of the Amazon city of Manaus. They

will end with that uses match against Costa Rica, but in between

is the crucial game against Luis Suarez's Uruguay in Sao Paulo. You

don't win on paper, you don't look at games and think which ones you

will win, lose or draw, you go out on each occasion, a level against

11, the field I mentioned is the same and if you are well required

you have a chance of winning -- 11 against 11. England will return to

Brazil next summer knowing they start the World Cup as outsiders.

While the draw today was far from easy, it could have been much, much

tougher. If he was worried, Roy Hodgson was not showing it tonight.

He now has six months to find a formula which will help his England

team defied expectations. More now on our top story and the

reaction to the death of Nelson Mandela. In a rare moment of

unanimity, world leaders have paid tribute to the former South African

president. From the African nations, to China, Iran, Russia,

Europe and across Asia, he's been described as a visionary and the

greatest leader of our time. Tributes have also been paid in the

United States. Let's go live to Washington and join our North

America editor Mark Mardell. The death of no other leader has

quite evoked these sorts of reactions from around the world,

left and right, north and south, east and West. The message that has

come through was that Mandela was a healer, but he was not always seen

that way, particularly here. His own struggle inspired President Obama to

take his first steps in politics, because there are deep echoes with

his struggle in this country, which has fought its own battle against

the imposition of one race's political power on another. The flag

at the White House flies at half-mast in honour of a man who

means much to America. Inside, on the desk of the USA's

first black president, sits this photo, a memento of their first

meeting. When Obama visited the prison on Robben Island in South

Africa he told his daughters of the link between Mandela, Gandhi and

Martin Luther King, an example, he says, to the world today. We will

not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. So it falls to us as

best we can to follow the example he set. To make decisions guided not by

hate but by love. To never discount the difference that one person can

make. To strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice.

Nelson Mandela was fated in Washington shortly after his release

from prison, but his struggle against apartheid divided the

country and he was not taken off the terrorist list until 2008. He was

welcomed as South Africa's president, warm hugs from the First

Lady who became Secretary of State, who told the BBC that people should

mourn and celebrate. We have so much still to learn from him, his

example, his understanding of how people need to be brought together.

The whole idea of truth and reconciliation, which helped to pave

the way for a new South Africa. Mandela was once labelled a

Communist by some, but Wall Street fell silent in homage this morning.

As the news broke in New York, it was perhaps in Harlem that the

tributes were most heartfelt. Mandela was fascinated by the

American struggle against white supremacy and is a hero here. We

should not mourn him, we should be happy we had somebody to walk the

face of this earth and fight for our rights. He was a man, an ordinary

man, who decided to fight for what was right. Outside the South African

embassy, flowers at the foot of the defiant statue of a man who once

evoked fierce divisions but in death is an icon of unity and forgiveness.

The anti-apartheid movement in Britain increased the pressure to

release Nelson Mandela from his long years in prison. He thanked the

British people in a visit in 1996. Razia Iqbal has been looking at his

relationship with Britain and the legacy he left behind.

From prison to president, he occupied a special place in the

heart of a nation thousands of miles from his own. From streets to

squares and statues, signposts switch underscored a connection to

the study against apartheid outside of South Africa. It is hard to

believe the place he was held in higher esteem than the London

Borough of Lambeth. It was here in Brixton, home to one of the largest

black communities, that he received a rapturous reception. For a man

whose life was transformed by the struggle, he in turn transformed the

lives of those he encountered. Allah he changed my life, he brought

Brixton together, he united us, he was a symbol of peace. Probably the

greatest man to have lived in your lifetime. A moment during morning

assembly to pray and reflect. Aged ten and 11, these children have been

told about Nelson Mandela by their headteacher. He is, like, a great he

wrote. Nobody will forget in easily, he will go on for generations. I

think he is a great inspiration, a true hero. I think everybody will be

remembering him today throughout the whole world. And I think they will

in hundreds of years to come, in fact. That is how great he really

was. His legacy is enshrined in UK scholarships for disadvantaged

students from South Africa. For this lawyer from the Eastern Cape,

history is never far from the surface. He ran with my friends to

be in the stadium -- I ran with my friends to be in the stadium where

he was giving an address. Those henries never fade. -- those

memories. The historical and cultural connections are deep. This

anthem for a generation was the centrepiece of a concert to mark

Mandela's 70th birthday. He was still in prison. His absence then,

as well as now, powerfully present. Let's talk to our Johannesburg

correspondent Nomsa Maseko, who joins me here in the studio. South

Africa is in mourning, as we have seen, but also beginning to look

ahead to what South Africa will be without Mandela? That's correct. I

am thousands of miles from home at a moment, when news broke yesterday I

felt I should have been home, but at the same time I feel this sense of

connection with what I am feeling here and people home are feeling,

and there is a determination not to let the rainbow nation that Mandela

dreamt of two died along with him. There is a determination,

particularly from the younger generation carrying the torch of

Nelson Mandela, they just society and a free and peaceful country. --

of a just society. That's all from us. In a moment on

BBC One it's time for the news where you are. We'll leave you now with

some of the extraordinary images of the life and legacy of Nelson

Mandela, the father of modern South Africa, who has died at the age of

95. There is no easy road to freedom.

None of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act

together as a united people. Let there be justice for all. Let there

be peace for all. Let there be work, prior, water for all. Let each know

that, for each, the body, the mind and the soul, have been freed to

fulfil themselves. Never, never and never again shall it be that this

beautiful land will gain experience the oppression of one by another,

the sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement.