South Africa unveils giant Nelson Mandela unity statue in Pretoria (PHOTOS)

Reuters – On a public holiday dedicated to reconciliation, South Africans have started to come to terms with the loss of Nelson Mandela, unveiling a giant statue to honour his struggle for equality.

A day after the democracy icon was buried with full honours in his boyhood village, a nine-metre bronze likeness was unveiled on Monday on the lawns of the Union Buildings, the seat of government in Pretoria.

This is where generations of apartheid heads of state signed many of the racial laws Mandela spent most of his life fighting against, but also where he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president in 1994.