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South Africa is holding weekly events to mark the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s anti-apartheid leader, who died on Sunday at the age of 90.
Plans may include two days before the official state funeral in Cape Town on January 1.
Leaders around the world have paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, US President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.
Tutu was one of the most popular figures in the country at home and abroad.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement That Tutu helped create a “liberated South Africa”.
A contemporary of Nelson Mandela, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his role in the abolition of the apartheid system established by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa in 1948-91.
On Sunday, South Africans of all ages and backgrounds stopped at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town to lay flowers and pay tribute to the country’s national hero.
“His significance transcends the boundaries of being an Anglican,” Brent Goliath lamented to the AFP news agency, bursting into tears.
“I was thrilled to hear that he had died this morning. I thank God for being with us,” Mr. Goliath said, adding that he had met Tutu several times.
Leaders around the world have also paid tribute.
President Biden said he was “heartbroken to know the journey of a true servant of God and the people,” adding that Tutu’s “heritage will transcend boundaries and resonate through the ages.”
Former US President Barack Obama has described Tutu as a “guardian, friend and moral compass.”
In a message of condolence, Queen Elizabeth II said she fondly remembered her meetings with him, and his great warmth and humor.
“The loss of the Archbishop’s Pipe will be felt by the people of South Africa and so many people in Britain, Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth, where it was with such great love and esteem.”
The Vatican said in a statement that Pope Francis had “expressed his heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones.”
“Given his service to the gospel through the promotion of racial equality and reconciliation in his homeland in South Africa, his holiness commends his soul to the loving mercy of Almighty God.”
According to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Tutu’s “contributions to the fight against injustice, only locally and globally, are consistent with his deep thinking about creating a liberating future for human societies.”
“He was a great man. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd.”
Tutu’s death came a few weeks after the death of FW de Klerk, the last president of apartheid in South Africa, at the age of 85.
The voice of hope
It is impossible to imagine South Africa’s long and winding journey to freedom – and beyond – without Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
While other warlords were killed, or forced into exile or imprisonment, the small, defiant Anglican priest was there at every stage, exposing the hypocrisy of the apartheid state, consoling the victims, holding the liberation movement accountable, and daring Western governments. doing more compared to the Nazis to isolate a white minority government.
When democracy arrived, Tutu used his moral authority to oversee the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that sought to expose the crimes of the white minority government. He later took a hard look at the failures of the former South African liberation movement, the ANC, in government.
Many South Africans today will remember Tutu’s personal courage, and the clarity of his moral anger.
But as those who knew him best have often reminded us, Tutu has always been, remarkably, the voice of hope. And that hope, that optimism, often accompanied by his secretive laughter and laughter, seems to shape the way the world remembers and celebrates Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Known affectionately as The Arch, Tutu was immediately recognizable by her purple clerical dress, cheerful demeanor, and almost constant smile.
He was not afraid to show his emotions in public, such as laughing and dancing at the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Despite his fame, he was not the man everyone loved. He was critical of the African National Congress (ANC) government in the post-apartheid government, when he felt he was sometimes misrepresenting South Africa, although in 2011 he warned that he would pray for his fall as a result of a canceled visit. Dalai Lama.
In this regard, National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele told Tuturi to “go home and shut up”.
“It’s not Jesus Christ,” he said.
Ordained a priest in 1960, Tutu was bishop of Lesotho from 1976-78, assistant bishop of Johannesburg and rector of a parish in Soweto. He became bishop of Johannesburg in 1985, and was appointed the first black archbishop of Cape Town the following year. He used his leading role to speak out against the oppression of blacks in his hometown, always saying that his motives were religious and not political.
After Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, Tutu himself was appointed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up to investigate crimes committed by whites and blacks during apartheid.
He was also credited with inventing the term Rainbow Nation to describe the post-apartheid ethnic mix in South Africa, but in his later years he expressed regret that he had not united the nation as he had dreamed.
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