PRESIDENT, SOUTH AFRICANS GATHER IN RAIN AHEAD OF MANDELA MEMORIAL

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Joyous, singing South Africans gathered in the rain Tuesday to honour Nelson Mandela at a massive memorial service that is expected to draw some 100 heads of state and other luminaries, united in tribute to a global symbol of reconciliation.

Crowds converged on FNB Stadium in Soweto, the Johannesburg township that was a stronghold of support for the anti-apartheid struggle that Mandela embodied as a prisoner of white rule for 27 years and then during a peril-fraught transition to the all-race elections that made him president.

"I would not have the life I have today if it was not for him," said Matlhogonolo Mothoagae, a postgraduate marketing student who arrived hours before the stadium gates opened. "He was jailed so we could have our freedom."

Workers were still welding at a VIP area as the first spectators arrived amid an enormous logistical challenge of organizing the memorial for Mandela, who died Dec. 5 in his Johannesburg home at the age of 95.

U.S. President Barack Obama landed in South Africa early Tuesday. Besides Obama, eulogies were to be delivered by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao and Cuban President Raul Castro.

Other speakers include the presidents of Brazil, Namibia and India, as well as tributes from Mandela's grandchildren. South African President Jacob Zuma was to give the keynote address.

Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the day when Mandela and South Africa's last apartheid-era president, F.W. de Klerk, received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to bring peace to their country.

Mandela said in his acceptance speech at the time: "We live with the hope that as she battles to remake herself, South Africa will be like a microcosm of the new world that is striving to be born."

The sounds of horns and cheering filled the stadium ahead of the ceremony, due to start at 11 a.m. local time. Rain sent those who arrived early into the stadium's covered upper deck, and many of the lower seats were empty.

The 95,000-capacity soccer venue was also the spot where Mandela made his last public appearance at the closing ceremony of the World Cup. After the memorial, his body will lie in state for three days at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, once the seat of white power, before burial Sunday in his rural childhood village of Qunu in Eastern Cape Province.

Police promised tight security, locking down roads kilometres around the stadium. However, the first crowds entered the stadium without being searched.