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The world pays tribute to Mandela (slideshow)
As South Africans come to terms with the loss of former president Nelson Mandela, the rest of the world bids farewell to Madiba.

Pimples: Saving Madiba's rabbit (video)
Gwede, Mac and Blade try their best to stop the rabbit from whispering in Mandela's ear. But the elusive animal has some tricks up its sleeve.

Zapiro's best Madiba cartoons (slideshow)
From his toughest moments to his most triumphant, Madiba has been an inspiration. Here are some of our favourite Zapiro cartoons about him from 1994 to 2013.

Mandela: SA's greatest son laid to rest (slideshow)
The world watched as Nelson Mandela was finally laid to rest in his hometown of Qunu following a dignified and moving funeral ceremony on Sunday.
Mandela's an outside bet for the Nobel prize
Nelson Mandela is one of the dark horses in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize to be announced on Monday.

Speculation is that Mandela is fourth in line to walk off with the world's most prestigious prize. The two hot favourites are Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbacbev and Czechoslovakian poet, playwright and president Vaclav Havel. Also in line to succeed the Dalai Lama as Nobel lau­reate is leading Chinese astrophysicist­ cum-dissident leader Fang Lizhi. 

Yesterday, the Nobel Literature Prize was awarded to Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz. The Swedish Academy of Letters said he got the prize for "im­passioned writing with wide horizons, characterised by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity". His best-known book is probably The Labyrinth of Solitude in which Paz offers insights into modern Mexico. 

For the peace prize, Gorbachev is a front-runner because of his role in slow­ing down the arms race, and for allowing the collapse of Eastern "bloc commu­nist regimes. Counting against him is his government 's reluctance to allow its own republics to go their own way. Czech president Havel would be popular more because of what he represents than because of a central role in peace­ making. A leading international literary figure who retains rock cult hero Frank Zappa as a roving ambassador, he devel­oped an original philosophy of peaceful resistance in his country. 

Fang Lizhi's success would be another thumb in the nose for China. Last year the Beijing regime seethed at Tibet 's Da­lai Lama getting it, but they have since done nothing to improve their human rights record. Perhaps China 's most prominent dissident, Fang Lizhi was one of the leaders of the June 1989 Tia­nanmen Square uprising, and took ref­uge in the US embassy for more than a year before diplomatic pressure allowed him a safe exit. 

Aside from Nelson Mandel a 's im­mense international stature, his candida­ture is strengthened by his role in the ANC 's decision to suspend its armed struggle. Counting against him is the fact that the negotiations process is cur­rently looking shaky, and that nearly 1 000 people have been killed in township violence. The world might prefer for Mandela arid FW de Klerk to share such, an award -but only after a settlement.

This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.