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South Africans mark the anniversary of former president Nelson Mandela's death

Associated Press
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A nine-meter bronze statue of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela outside Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, on the first anniversary of former South African President Nelson Mandela's death. Events are to be held around the country for the former statesman who died last year at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) (The Associated Press)

A nine-meter bronze statue of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela is placed outside Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, on the first anniversary of former South African President Nelson Mandela's death. Events are to be held around the country for the former statesman who died last year at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) (The Associated Press)

A nine-meter bronze statue of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela is placed outside Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, on the first anniversary of former South African President Nelson Mandela's death. Events are to be held around the country for the former statesman who died last year at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe) (The Associated Press)

South Africans are marking the anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. The former statesman died Dec. 5 last year after a long illness at the age of 95.

Speaking at a formal ceremony on Friday in the capital Pretoria, Mandela's widow Graca Machel said the former president was at peace when he died.

The ceremony held at the foot of a bronze statue of the Nobel laureate was attended by the Mandela family, his close friend and fellow Robben Island prison inmate Ahmed Kathrada and his lawyer George Bizos.

The ceremony was followed by an interfaith service at Freedom Park, an open-air memorial, also in Pretoria.

Commemoration ceremonies are being held around the country, including at Mandela's ancestral home in Qunu, in the country's Eastern Cape Province.