Arch to honour the Arch
THE Arch will soon get his own arch.
A frail-looking Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu managed a little dance of joy on Friday at the unveiling of plans for a 5.2m-high arch that will be built in his honour in Cape Town.
Tutu, who has been in and out of hospital for recurring health problems, said at the event — a highlight of the Design Indaba — that his health was as good as could be expected.
“I was almost dead, but then they decided ‘we don’t want the old man yet’,” he joked, eyes turning towards heaven.
The audience erupted in applause when the Nobel peace prize laureate, using a walking stick, shuffled onto the stage.
“I am stunned,” he said of the plans for the arch. “I am so thankful. Isn’t this a wonderful thing?
“We must always remember that an arch has pillars, and people like yourselves are our pillars . . . the people of this country, who attended the marches; there would have been no marches without them.
“I want to thank God, and God’s fellow workers, people like yourselves and your forebears.
“We destroyed a vicious system
and remember, we are free despite the problems we have.”
The arch, to be erected at the entrance to the Company’s Garden between parliament and St George’s Cathedral, was designed by Norwegian-US architectural firm Snøhetta in collaboration with Thomas Chapman, founder of the Johannesburg design firm Local Studio.
The idea for the arch, whose unveiling is scheduled for Tutu’s 86th birthday on October 7, developed after Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille asked the Design Indaba to honour the archbishop.
The structure will consist of 14 intertwined strands, one for each of the 14 chapters of the constitution. Each of the 14 lines in the preamble to the constitution will be inscribed on one of the strands. According to the Snøhetta website, the strands will be made with bent wood.
A smaller version of the arch will be installed at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg on December 21.
After the event, Tutu told the Sunday Times he was delighted at the way the constitution would feature in the design.
“It is important for us to remain true to the constitution, especially in these days when some treat it so lightly.”