South Africans have defied the rains to attend the Nelson Mandela memorial service holding at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium.

World leaders including President Goodluck Jonathan and former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, were seen arriving at the FNB Stadium.

Other leaders at the event are President Barrack Obama, three of his predecessors- Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe are also among the over 90 leaders that are present at the ceremony.

Our South African correspondent, Betty Dibia described the atmosphere at the FNB stadium as “electrifying” as mourners have been “swimming into the stadium since 4Am”.

She noted that though some world leaders that had confirmed that they would be attending the event were in the country but were yet to arrive the stadium.

She however noted that the mood of those in the stadium is “rather celebratory than that of mourning”.

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, Tony Blair and some African presidents have been sighted in the stadium. The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon has also arrived.

The programme is expected to last for four hours but might be extended a bit due to the rain.