The state funeral to bid farewell to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu began this Saturday (01.01.2022) at St. George’s Anglican Cathedral in Cape Town, with the presence of his family and leading figures in the country.
Desmond Tutu, who died on December 26 at the age of 90, has been limited to a hundred attendees due to covid-19 restrictions. In addition to the current South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, former presidents such as Thabo Mbeki (1999-2008) and Kgalema MOtlanthe (2008-2009) attended the ceremony, who met in the temple known as the “people’s cathedral” during the racist “apartheid” regime.
The funeral, officiated by the current Archbishop of Cape Town and leader of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba, was also attended by King Letsie III of the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho and Mozambican activist Graça Machel, widow of Nelson Mandela.
This state funeral closes a week of events held in different parts of the country to bid farewell to one of the most beloved figures in the history of South Africa, including the installation of a burning chapel during Thursday and Friday (31.12.2022) in this temple, which saw hundreds of South Africans parade.
Following the wishes of Tutu himself, who had asked that no money be spent unnecessarily on his funerals, the ceremony has been characterized by its simplicity, and even no speeches are contemplated, only the intervention of President Ramaphosa.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his struggle against the racial oppression of “apartheid”, Tutu is considered one of the key figures in contemporary South African history. His career was marked by a constant defense of human rights, something that led him to distance himself on numerous occasions from the ecclesiastical hierarchy to openly defend positions such as the rights of homosexuals or euthanasia.
