[h=1]Nelson Mandela memorial: empty seats embarrass South Africa[/h][h=2]Empty seats at national stadium are blamed on rain, an unpopular president in Jacob Zuma and his failure to declare a national holiday[/h]It was supposed to be standing room only, but the memorial service held to honour the life of Nelson Mandela was remarkable for the large number of South Africans who failed to turn up.
Tens of thousands of seats in the venue, the FNB football stadium in Johannesburg, remained empty throughout five hours of eulogy. Even at the height of the service, only two thirds of seats were taken, a major embarrassment for the government of South Africa, which had billed it as the centrepiece of a week of events marking the death of Mandela.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...orial-empty-seats-embarrass-South-Africa.html
They can not even fill up a 95,000 seat stadium in South Africa for Mandela's memorial and Obama? Good grief...
Tens of thousands of seats in the venue, the FNB football stadium in Johannesburg, remained empty throughout five hours of eulogy. Even at the height of the service, only two thirds of seats were taken, a major embarrassment for the government of South Africa, which had billed it as the centrepiece of a week of events marking the death of Mandela.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...orial-empty-seats-embarrass-South-Africa.html
They can not even fill up a 95,000 seat stadium in South Africa for Mandela's memorial and Obama? Good grief...