A frail-looking Nelson Mandela buried his last son in a remote South African field today. Mr Mandela wore a red Aids ribbon to symbolise the fight against the disease that killed him a week ago.
Thousands of people, including South Africa's political elite, gathered near Mandela's childhood home in Qunu, where family members held a vigil overnight for his son Makgatho, 54.
The 86-year-old anti-apartheid icon, one hand holding a cane and the other supported by his wife Graca Machel, walked slowly into a giant tent for the funeral ceremony on Saturday. Graca gripped Mandela's hand on his knee throughout much of the proceedings.
Both wore red ribbons supporting the war against an epidemic that affects an estimated one in nine South Africans - more people than in any other nation.
Zwelakhe Sisulu, son of Mandela's late African National Congress (ANC) comrade Walter Sisulu, praised Mandela for announcing that Makgatho died from Aids - a move that broke one of the most stubborn African taboos surrounding the pandemic.
"There is a disease that is confronting not just our nation but the entire world," said Sisulu, a cousin and close friend of Makgatho, who died just over a week ago.
Mandela's decision to announce that his son had died from Aids was hailed as courageous by many engaged in the battle against the disease's ravages in South Africa.
Mandela's spirited public campaign against Aids contrasts with that of his successor Thabo Mbeki, who for a long time questioned the link between Aids and the HIV virus, and has faced criticism for not providing life-prolonging drugs to sufferers quickly.