Modest send off as South Africa mourns Tutu
>>CAPE TOWN: South Africa started bidding farewell yesterday to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the last great hero in its struggle against apartheid, in a funeral stripped of pomp but freighted with tears and drenched in rain.
It started with a hymn and a procession of clerics down the aisle burning incense and carrying candles in the church where Tutu will also be buried.
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.
Famous for his modesty, Tutu gave instructions for a simple, no-frills ceremony, with a cheap coffin, donations for charity instead of floral tributes and an eco-friendly cremation.
The requiem mass started at 10 am (local time) at Cape Town’s St George’s Cathedral where, for years,
Tutu used the pulpit to rail against a brutal white minority regime.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was due ro deliver the eulogy, accorded
Tutu a special category funeral, usually designated for presidents and very important people.
He was also to hand South Africa’s multicoloured flag to Tutu’s widow, Leah — a reminder of her husband’s description of the post-apartheid country as the “Rainbow Nation”.
South Africa has been marking a week of mourning, culminating with two days of lying in state.
Several thousand people, some of whom had travelled across the country, filed past a diminutive rope-handled casket made of pine, adorned simply by a bunch of carnations.
Under a grey sky and drizzle, mourners were ushered into the cathedral. Rains, according to historian Khaya Ndwandwe “are a blessing” and showed that Tutu’s “soul is welcome” to heaven.
Mourners included close friends and family, clergy and a guests, including former Irish president Mary Robinson, who was to read a prayer.
Others mourners included Elita, the widow of the last apartheid leader FW de Klerk, who died in November.
Conspicuously absent from the funeral was one of Tutu’s best friends, the Dalai Lama, due to his advanced age and Covid restrictions.
Tutu’s moral firmness and passion went hand-in-hand with self-deprecatory humour.
For his funeral, Tutu picked a quote from the New Testament’s Gospel of St John where Jesus addresses his disciples after their last supper.
It reads: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”