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Mana Party leader Hone Harawira says he was proud and humbled to represent Maori and the New Zealand anti-apartheid protest movement at memorial services for Nelson Mandela.
He says every city and town in South Africa seemed to have some sort of service during the 10 days of mourning, culminating in yesterday's state funeral and private family burial at Qunu in the Eastern Cape.
Mr Harawira and his wide Hilda Halkyard were not part of New Zealand's offical delegation, but made their own way to the republic to honour the man who led his rainbow nation out of minority white rule.
The attended an inter-faith service at Orlando Soccer Stadium in Soweto and a private service in the Mandela homestead, before joining the tens of thousands of people who queued to view Mr Mandela's body at Union Hall in Pretoria.
"Hilda did a karanga mate and that sort of settled her, settled me, so we stopped which you were not allowed to do and the cops tried to move us on. I said 'No, I'm going to do a haka,' so in a very Maori way we were able to send him off in the way I think our people would have wanted us to send him off, with a karanga mate from the wahine and a haka," Mr Harawira says.
He says one of Mr Mandela's grandsons interceded with police to allow him to do the haka.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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