Prerotia - Members of the public began filing past the body of former president Nelson Mandela as it lay in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday morning.
Several people in wheelchairs were escorted and a young child was carried on the back of an adult man.
A woman draped in an ANC flag waved the national flag as she passed the coffin. One man ignored the quick flow of viewers to stand silently for a few moments with his hand on his heart, staring intently at the body of South Africa's first democratic president.
The procession of people was marked by the stark silence in which they filed past.
Military personnel filed past the body of former president Nelson Mandela as it lay in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday morning.
Each of the SA National Defence Force members, who were the first allowed in on Thursday morning, saluted the coffin as they passed by.
Members of the public were then allowed into the structure in which the body lay, surrounded by four military guards standing with their heads bowed.
Large displays of white flowers were placed on the sides of the structure. - Sapa