The government offered a detailed program of the funeral arrangements as hundreds of people visited Mr. Mandelaâs home in the upscale Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton to pay their respects, leaving flowers, lighting candles and singing. Some held up hand-painted portraits of Mr. Mandela.  Jenny Hoggarth of Johannesburg said the mood reminded her of the countryâs first post-apartheid elections in 1994. âItâs sad, but I feel a lot of love,â she said. âHeâs old. We knew it had to come, even if we didnât want it to.â  Beside her, a little girl had begun to weep. Ms. Hoggarth patted her gently on the shoulder and said, âI feel like crying, too.â  The moment drew people from many backgrounds, faiths, races and affiliations. Two men in skullcaps walked alongside a man with long dreadlocks as they passed a circle of singing, drumming Hare Krishna disciples.  According to a schedule published Friday by President Jacob G. Zuma on an official government website, the days leading up to the state funeral will be punctuated by reflection and prayer on Sunday; a national memorial in an 80,000-capacity soccer stadium on Tuesday; and a three-day period, starting on Wednesday, for Mr. Mandelaâs body to lie in state at the Union Buildings, the formal seat of presidential power, in Pretoria.  The White House said Friday that President Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, would visit South Africa this week âto participate in memorial events.â  On Saturday, the South African government said that Mr. Mandelaâs body would be taken to the Union Buildings from a military hospital in a public procession spanning three days, and that the route would be announced in advance so the public could witness it.  The memorial schedule made clear that people filing past the coffin would be subject to tight controls to ensure that the process was âdignified and orderly,â with cameras and cellphones forbidden.  âThe security forces will control access to the Union Buildings and facilitate the file-past process,â the schedule said. âRoads immediately surrounding the Union Buildings will be closed.â  People wishing to view the coffin will have to report to one of two central sites to be shuttled to the Union Buildings, Collins Chabane, a government minister in the presidentâs office, said in a statement. He said hundreds of other events would be held in provinces and towns away from the centers of government.  The arrangements were designed to offer ordinary South Africans some access to a momentous period in their modern history. But the state funeral in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape region, will present the authorities with logistical challenges of a different order as they work to ferry dignitaries to the grave site.  According to the memorial schedule, the South African military will be in charge of the final transfer of the body when it is flown to the Eastern Cape from an air force base in Pretoria. When it arrives at the airport in the small town of Mthatha, the schedule said, âa military guard of honor will welcome the mortal remains, which will be draped in the national flag.â  The state airline will provide charter flights to take mourners there, news reports said.  The day after the funeral is a public holiday in South Africa known as the Day of Reconciliation, which has been observed since 1994, after the end of apartheid. For South Africans across the racial spectrum, it is laden with associations from earlier times in the countryâs tortured history.  In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Zuma said he would attend a Methodist church service in Johannesburg on Sunday. He repeated his call âto all to go to stadiums, halls, churches, temples or synagoguesâ to celebrate Mr. Mandelaâs life.  âWe should, while mourning, also sing at the top of our voices, dance and do whatever we want to do, to celebrate the life of this outstanding revolutionary who kept the spirit of freedom alive and led us to a new society,â Mr. Zuma said. âAs South Africans, we sing when we are happy, and we also sing when we are sad to make ourselves feel better.  âLet us celebrate Madiba in this way, which we know best,â he added, referring to Mr. Mandela by his widely used clan name. âLet us sing for Madiba.â  Mr. Zuma quoted Mr. Mandela as saying it âwould be very egotistical of me to say how I would like to be remembered. Iâd leave that entirely to South Africans. I would just like a simple stone on which is written, âMandela.' â  Since Mr. Mandelaâs death was announced on Thursday, tributes have poured in. Among the most recent, published in Zimbabweâs state-run Herald newspaper on Saturday, is an encomium from President Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who called Mr. Mandela âthe great icon of African liberation.â  The praise masked Mr. Mugabeâs uneasy relationship with Mr. Mandela, who spoke in 2008 of a âtragic failure of leadershipâ in Zimbabwe as the economy there fell into a tailspin and political violence seized the land.  In a letter to Mr. Zuma on Friday, The Herald reported, Mr. Mugabe said: âMr. Nelson Mandelaâs renowned and illustrious political life will forever remain a beacon of excellence. Not only was he a great champion of the emancipation of the oppressed, but he also was a humble and compassionate leader who showed selfless dedication to the service of his people.â  Since Mr. Mandelaâs death, South Africans have gathered at his former home in Soweto and his more recent one in Houghton to pay tribute, laying flowers and dancing.  People of all races joined the blend of mourning and celebration in a way that seemed increasingly unusual as South Africa confronts a struggling economy, allegations of high-level corruption and a widespread sense that the promise evoked by Mr. Mandelaâs emergence from 27 years in prison in 1990 is dissipating rapidly.  With elections scheduled for April, Mr. Zuma has urged South Africans to focus on the preparations for Mr. Mandelaâs funeral. âWe should all work together to organize the most befitting funeral for this outstanding son of our country and the father of our young nation,â he said Friday.  Nicholas Kulish reported from Johannesburg, and Alan Cowell from London. Lydia Polgreen contributed reporting from Johannesburg.
South Africans took to the streets into the early hours of Saturday after the death of former President Nelson Mandela, while the government prepared for more formal commemorations.