Reuters’ Tutu hero against apartheid in South Africa has rung the cathedral bells

Author: Wendell Roelf

EARTHQUAKE (Reuters) – South Africans remembered the anti-apartheid heroine of Archbishop Desmond Tutu with cathedral bells, flowers and warm words on Monday as he turned 90 the day after he died at a Cape Town nursing home.

Tutu, a Nobel laureate who preached against the tyranny of the white minority, was considered a moral conscience by black and white South Africans.

His death has caused a great deal of tribute worldwide https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-archbishop-desmond-tutu-dies-aged-90-2021-12-26, including US President Joe Biden. and his predecessors Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, Pope Francis and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the first black president of South Africa and a friend of Tutu.

“Fighting for freedom from the trenches of South Africa required an indescribable courage. However, he remained steadfast and fearless, leading the demonstrations in his priestly vested robes …” said Mandela’s widow Graca Machel.

The bells of St. George’s Cathedral rang for 10 minutes at noon on Monday, a tribute that will be repeated daily until Friday. Tutu led a campaign and march against apartheid from the steps of St. George.

Cape Town Archbishop Thabo Makgoba urged all who heard the bells to “pause their busy hours for a moment” in a tribute to Tuturi.

Mourning laid flowers outside the “People’s Cathedral” and what is a powerful symbol of democracy. The black-and-white portraits of the tutus were attached to a fence and five books of condolences were available for the mourners to cope with the wet weather.

“You had a good fight, they encouraged us to continue fighting for peace in the world,” read a message signed by Noel and Alfredo.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday night that flags would be placed in the middle of the mast and abroad at South African diplomatic missions until Tutu’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

LOVE AND NEWS

Ramaphosa and others called the Cape Town Tutu residence to offer condolences to widow Leah and other family members.

“His heart was big enough to make the whole world fall in love,” Tutu’s daughter Mpho Tutu van Furth said in an interview with Trouw newspaper in the Netherlands about her father, where she lives and works as an Anglican priest.

“He was in the company of the most powerful people on earth and sat with the smallest, the weakest, the poorest and the poorest. He did it with equal love and laughter,” he said of Tutu, who was known for himself. infectious laughter.

Cape Town Hall and Mount Mahaia, which rises above the city, will be illuminated every night in purple this week, the color of Tutu’s clerical attire.

Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his non-violent opposition to white minority rule. A decade later, he witnessed the end of that regime and headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to shed light on the atrocities committed against him.

He later considered the black political elite as passionate as the Africans, but his enduring spirit of reconciliation always shone through and he never stopped fighting for a “Rainbow Nation.”

In the South African capital, a service in honor of Tutu in Pretoria is scheduled for Wednesday. This evening, Cape Town will pay a special tribute at its town hall to members of Tutu’s family, including its foundation and various beliefs and tribes.

He will be in Tutu State on Friday in St. George’s, ahead of Saturday’s funeral service led by Makgoba.

The ashes of the pipes will be buried in an attic behind the pulpit, according to his will, Michael Weeder, dean of St. George’s Cathedral, said at a news conference with Makgoba on Monday.

Makgoba said the list of possible participants was 500 names, but added that the COVID-19 regulations, which limit funerals to a maximum of 100 people, must be respected.

“Only a portion of those who want to stay there can be accommodated,” he said, urging others to be respected in churches and cathedrals across the country.

(Additional articles by Jody Khan and Shafiek Tassiem in Cape Town, Emma Rumney in Johannesburg and Stephanie van den Berg in Amsterdam; Written by Emma Rumney; Edited by Bernadette Baum and Gareth Jones)