Hundreds of members of royal families converged at Freedom Park, Pretoria, yesterday for a tribute to Mandela, organised by the Congress of Traditional Leaders.
Among the guests were King Tchiffi Zie Jean Gervais, of the Ivory Coast, Ghana's Queen Ema Amissah III and Best Kemigisa, queen mother of the Toro, of Uganda.
Xhosa king Zwelakhe Sigcau and Ndebele king Makhosonke Mabena, of Manala, in Mpumalanga were also in attendance, along with Princes Thumbumuzi and Masitsela, the brothers of Swaziland's King Mswati III.
Madiba, who was represented by his grandson, Mandla, was given an African royal award, a stuffed lion, which traditional leaders said symbolises the highest form of leadership.
The 100-year-old throne-like chair was an additional gift.
The president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders, Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa, said the lion symbolised Madiba as king of the jungle.
Mandela was hailed by the royals as an "icon of freedom, king of the soil, a leader who taught others how to forgive".
President Jacob Zuma told the royals: "He was a man who, after spending 27-years on Robben Island, would emerge smiling and saying peace and preaching reconciliation."
Zuma said Madiba had sacrificed his freedom for an ideal, democratic society.
"He has been to us a father, a leader, everything. There's no aspect of the struggle that he would not be involved in, even dreaming about what the country would be like after the struggle," he said.
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