MORNOVIA, Dec. 1 -- Liberia's soccer legend and former world football player George Weah has described the late former South Africa president Nelson Mandela as a fallen tower that Africa and the world cannot easily rebuild.

At a memorial service held in Madiba's honor Tuesday evening in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, the soccer star said given Mandela's unrelenting fight for social justice, his teaching and respect for mankind, the world will mourn his loss for many years.

Weah who is also Liberia's Peace Ambassador said, Mandela entered prison in 1962, and left after 27 years, not with hate, but as a reformer with love, irrespective of race, class, gender, religion, age, or social-economic status.

According to him, the former South African anti-apartheid fighter was an eminent statesman, a man of peace and an advocate for social justice.

He said that for Mandela, the struggle against apartheid was not for the supremacy of one group of people over the other, instead, it was a universal struggle for social justice, freedom, and equality for all, unlike that of most freedom fighters in Africa at the time.

The 1995 FIFA best player said he was humbled to meet the former South Africa President in 1996, two years after his election as South Africa's President.

The former skipper of Liberia national team also revealed that when he was appointed as Peace Ambassador, the late Nelson Mandela's advice contributed to his acceptance of the challenge.