Tutu: Get me the cheapest coffin
Humble farewell of South African icon
When we were in the dark, Desmond Tutu
brought light
THE state funeral for anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu took place yesterday with his body laid to rest in the“cheapest available coffin”.
Only 100 mourners including friends, family, clergy and politicians were allowed to attend the service at Cape Town’s St George’s Cathedral, due to Covid rules.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Tutu, who died last Sunday aged 90, had insisted there should be “no lavish spending” including on his simple wooden casket.
He had also asked that the only flowers should be a bouquet of carnations from his family – which were put on the coffin.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the main eulogy as Tutu’s widow – Nomalizo Leah, known as “Mama Leah” – sat in a wheelchair.
Mr Ramaphosa described Tutu as a “crusader in the struggle for freedom, for justice, for equality and peace, not only in South Africa… but around the world”.
He added: “If we are to understand a global icon to be someone of great moral stature, of exceptional qualities, and of service to humanity there can be no doubt that it refers to the man we’re laying to rest.” In a message shown at the service, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “People have said, ‘When we were in the dark, he brought light’ and that lit up countries globally.”
The cathedral, which became a refuge for anti-apartheid activists in the 1980s and 1990s, was illuminated in purple for the colour of Tutu’s robes.
Mourners were met with unseasonal rain as they arrived but by the time the Archbishop’s casket was carried the sun was shining. Thousands had visited to pay their respects during the week as his body lay in state.
The Archbishop coined the term ‘Rainbow Nation’ to describe a South Africa free of apartheid.
Nicknamed ‘The Arch’, he was a key ally of Nelson Mandela – the country’s first black president – and one of the driving forces in ending the racial segregation and violence enforced by the white minority government from 1948 until 1991.
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