South Africa holds state funeral for Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The funeral mass for South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu is taking place at a cathedral in Cape Town.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped end the racist regime in South Africa, died last Sunday aged 90.
His death prompted an outpouring of grief among South Africans.
Thousands have paid their respects at St George’s Cathedral where his body has been lying in state in a simple casket.
Tutu was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the main eulogy at the official state funeral on Saturday, where only 100 people are in attendance because of coronavirus restrictions.
Tutu had insisted there should be “no ostentatiousness or lavish spending” on the ceremony and that he be given “the cheapest available coffin”.
He also said the only flowers in the cathedral should be a “bouquet of carnations from his family”, according to the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
His ashes are to be interred behind the pulpit at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
Agencies