Czech FM to attend Mandela's memorial following PM's controversial comments

Following controversial comments about former South African President Nelson Mandela's funeral, where the Czech prime minister in colourful language revealed how much he did not want to attend, the Czech Republic has announced that Foreign Minister Jan Kohout will be attending in his place. Neither Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok nor President Milos Zeman will be in attendance, according to local media reports. On Friday Rusnok was caught dismissing the idea of attending the civil right hero's funeral, brusquely proclaiming how little he wanted to attend and he hoped the president would go, despite the latter's ill health. He apologised for the scandal on Saturday afternoon, stating, "For those words I apologise. It was not right to express myself in this way in connection with the death of Nelson Mandela and I regret it." The foreign minister will attend as the official representative of the Czech Republic at a memorial ceremony in Johannesburg. On Dec. 15, a funeral service and interment ceremony will take place at Mandela's home and final resting place at Qunu in the Eastern Cape. Mandela died of a long standing lung disease on Thursday at his Johannesburg home, at the age of 95.