Lip service

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu gets a big smooch from Dudu Monnapula at a funeral service in Pretoria yesterday. The Arch was attending the service for Monnapula’s mother, Emma Thandi Mashinini, who died on Monday at the age of 87. Mashinini’s funeral was held at the Anglican Church of St Alban the Martyr in Pretoria. Flags also flew at half-mast from government buildings yesterday for Mashinini, who in 1975 was a founder member of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union. From 1943, at the age of 14, she worked in a Johannesburg garment factory and later served on the executive committee of the National Union of Clothing Workers. In 1956 she joined the ANC. She played several important roles in the transition to democracy, serving on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and later becoming a commissioner for restitution of land rights. Her autobiography, Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life, was published in 1989 and republished in 2012.