South African prosecutors on Tuesday filed an appeal against the sentence and conviction of star Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who last month was sentenced to five years for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend.

"Today, we announce that the NPA filed the application for leave to appeal both the conviction and sentence," the National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement. "The appeal on conviction is based on the question of law."

A feud within Nelson Mandela's family raged even as the peace icon lay in state, with members arguing over access to his rural homestead, a report said on Tuesday.

The Times daily reported that family members had "pushed out" Mandla Mandela, the statesman's oldest grandson and heir to his clan title, from the family home in the village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape province where the anti-apartheid hero was laid to rest on Sunday.

Nelson Mandela was given back to ordinary South Africans Thursday, who queued in their thousands from early morning to file past his open casket on a day of viewing reserved for the public.

On Wednesday, the cameras of the world had been trained on world leaders, VIPs and celebrities paying tribute to a man known for his common touch -- relating to princes and paupers with equal ease.

World leaders have heaped praise on the late Nelson Mandela, but among the countries paying tribute are some that had long backed the South African apartheid regime that jailed him.

Many of the eulogies for the iconic peacemaker have glossed over Western support for the white supremacist regime in Pretoria during the Cold War, when Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) were blacklisted as Soviet proxies.

Nelson Mandela's flag-draped casket made a solemn journey through the streets of Pretoria Wednesday, arriving at the seat of South Africa's government where he will lie in state for three days.

A black hearse phalanxed by 16 motorcycle outriders rolled out of the city's 1 Military Hospital onto streets lined with flag-waving South Africans who formed a public guard of honor.