Nelson Mandela dies aged 95
Iconic South African leader Nelson Mandela, fondly known as Madiba, dies at the age of 95 in his home in Houghton, Johannesburg - (Reuters)

The body of Nelson Mandela has been moved to the One Military hospital in South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria from his Johannesburg home.

The funeral of Mandela, fondly known as Madiba, is likely to take place in the coming days although official announcements have yet to be made.

The colossus of post-apartheid South Africa died at the age of 95 in his home in Houghton, a suburb of Johannesburg, after a long battle with a lung infection. The house has been cordoned off by police.

The body is expected to be embalmed in the next few days for a public memorial which is likely to take place in Johannesburg football stadium.

Mandela will be given a state funeral and President Jacob Zuma has ordered all flags to be lowered to half-mast until then. The funeral and burial are to take place in his ancestral hometown of Qunu.

Hundreds of people have gathered outside Mandela's Houghton house singing songs of apartheid struggle and the South African national anthem mourning his death.

Candles have been lit and flowers have been placed to honour Mandela, who was South African president from 1994 and 1999.

Scores of people across the country have been holding pictures of Mandela, taken during various stages of his life, and seen slowly marching in streets hailing Madiba's work.

"We are not here to mourn but to commemorate, honour, and celebrate him because of everything he has done. I think it was time that God excused him," Lerato Hlongwane, a woman who had gathered outside Mandela's former home in Vilakazi Street in Soweto, told News 24.

Tributes continue to pour in from all corners of the world, marking the death of one of world's most revered leaders.