Africa-Press – Gambia. South Africa bade farewell on Saturday to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the last great hero of the struggle against apartheid, in a funeral stripped of pomp but freighted with tears and showered with drizzles of rain.
Tutu died last Sunday at the age of 90, triggering grief among South Africans and tributes from world leaders for a life spent fighting injustice.
Family, friends, clergy and politicians gathered at Cape Town’s St. George’s Cathedral where, for years, Tutu used the pulpit to rail against a brutal white minority regime. That is where he will be buried.
“We thank you for loving our father… because we shared him with the world, you share part of the love you held for with us, so we are thankful,” said Tutu’s daughter Mpho.
Tutu’s widow Nomalizo Leah, known as “Mama Leah”, sat in a wheelchair in the front row of the congregation, draped in a purple scarf, the colour of her husband’s clerical robes.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the main eulogy for Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his non-violent opposition to white minority rule.
Hundreds of well-wishers had queued on Thursday and Friday to pay their last respects to Tutu as he lay in state at the cathedral. On Saturday, his simple coffin was once again wheeled into the church as the requiem Mass got under way.
“Only one hundred guests had been invited to attend the very small and private service inside the cathedral,” said Nadine Theron, FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Cape Town, South Africa.
Life-size posters of Tutu, with his hands clasped, were placed outside the cathedral, where the number of congregants was restricted in line with Covid-19 measures.
Simple ceremony
Famous for his modesty, Tutu gave instructions for a simple, no-frills ceremony, with a cheap coffin, donations for charity instead of floral tributes, followed by an eco-friendly cremation.
“The most amazing thing about ‘The Arch’, as he was known by the whole country, is that it didn’t matter who was in power. Whether it was the apartheid government against which he fought very vociferously or whether it was Nelson Mandela’s ANC party, he was staunchly critical of anything that smacked of corruption,” Vivienne Walt, Time Magazine’s correspondent in Paris, told FRANCE 24.
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