Nelson Mandela dead: Giant laser image of Madiba projected onto Table Mountain, Cape Town

(Getty)

A giant laser image of Nelson Mandela has been projected onto Table Mountain in South Africa in an illuminated tribute to the late leader.

The flat topped mountain, which overlooks Cape Town, has floodlights which are turned on on days of national significance. It happens relatively rarely as the illuminations interfere with the natural rhythms of plants and wildlife.

In the past it has been lit red for World Aids Day, and with a picture of a rhino to raise awareness of the poaching problem in the national parks.

This time an outline of Nelson Mandela’s face was projected onto the mountain, with letters spelling out Madiba, or ‘father’ alongside it.

However the tribute has drawn criticism from some quarters, with social media users likening the illumination to KFC’s ‘Colonel Sanders.’

Others, while congratulating the organisers for ‘trying’ said it looked more like Obama than Nelson Mandela.

Yet many said they thought it was a fitting tribute to the first democratically elected president of South Africa, saying they felt Mandela was still looking down on Cape Town.

Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died on December 5 aged 95 (Getty)

Such sentiments were in stark contrast to the reaction to the BBC's coverage of Mandela's death received.

The BBC was hit with 1,350 complaints about the "excessive" coverage of Nelson Mandela's death on BBC services, including some who grumbled about Mrs Brown's Boys being interrupted.

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The world’s leaders will descend on Johannesburg for an official memorial service this Tuesday. It will be held in the 95,000-capacity Soccer City stadium, arranged to alleviate logistical pressures on the tiny village of Qunu, which will host Mr Mandela’s state funeral next Sunday.

The funeral proceedings this week will be attended by Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband.