A frail but clearly ecstatic Nelson Mandela this evening braved the winter chill to make his first appearance at the World Cup as hundreds of millions of people around the world prepared to watch the tournament's final.
The iconic statesman, in a fur hat to keep out the evening cold, cast a dignified shadow in contrast to the motley selection of other African leaders including Zimbabwean despot Robert Mugabe, who had flocked to the clash between Holland and Spain in their private jets.
Mr Mandela played a crucial role in bringing the World Cup to Africa, but had yet to make an appearance.
Earlier in the day, his family had hit out at 'extreme pressure' from the sport's governing body FIFA. They had warned that attending the evening spectacular would prove “too strenuous” for him.
The spectacle of him riding on to the Soccer City pitch on the back of a golf buggy, flanked by his third wife Graca Machel, prompted a deafening blast of vuvuzelas and cheers from the 85,000-strong crowd.
Smiling broadly, his thin frame muffled in a scarf and coat, Mr Mandela waved to the crowd and shook hands of starstruck well-wishers.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner is rarely seen in public these days and is in increasingly fragile health.
Mr Mandela’s grandson today lashed out at Fifa's controversial president Sepp Blatter in particular for putting too much pressure on him to attend.
Plans for him to be at the opening ceremony and game were cancelled after his 13-year-old great granddaughter was killed in a car crash the night before.
On the morning of the final, the former South African president's grandson Mandla Mandela told the BBC: 'We've come under extreme pressure from Fifa requiring and wishing that my grandfather be at the final.
'I think people ought to just understand the family's traditions and customs and understand we've had a loss in the family and we are in mourning and that for me would be enough reason to leave the family to be for now.'
Although pundits will never record the tournament as the most successful in footballing terms, the month-long event has had a hugely unifying effect on South Africa which continues to be dogged by racial divisions, 16 years after the end of apartheid.
Tonight’s final will certainly prove to be the noisiest match of the entire competition with fans enjoying their last chance to blast the controversial vuvuzela, which has become synonymous with the tournament.
And the sight of the legendary anti-apartheid leader gave South Africa a chance to relive the 'Mandela moment’ from the 1995 rugby World Cup, when the country’s first black president donned the captain’s jersey of the winning rugby team.
Morgan Freeman, who played Mr Mandela in Invictus, the recent Hollywood version of the iconic moment, was among scores of celebrities, royalty and world leaders who have gathered for the game.
They included Paris Hilton, Prince Albert of Monaco and his South African fiancée, the King of Swaziland - Africa's last absolute monarch, and the King and Queen of Spain.
Mr Mugabe, whose country has been bankrupted by his ruinous rule, arrived in an ageing jet commandeered from the Zimbabwean national airline, but failed to provide a lift for his own Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, who flew into Johannesburg on a scheduled flight.
And tonight's officials are ... Howard Webb (centre) and his assistant referees Mike Cann (left) and Darren Mclarkey (right). The trio go through their paces ahead of the match.
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