Awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against racial oppression, Tutu is considered a key figure in South African history.
Hundreds of South Africans followed the religious services and vigils organized throughout the country on Wednesday to pay tribute and say goodbye to Nobel Peace Prize Desmond Tutu, passed away on December 26.
The main ceremony of this day took place in the afternoon at the City Hall of Cape Town (southwest) – the city of which Tutu was Archbishop Emeritus and where he lived – in the form of an interreligious service attended by representatives of the family and the Tutu Foundation, as well as local authorities.
“The family is very grateful for the outpouring of love and support. We feel that this makes the pain of separation easier, but it also reflects the example of the man whose life we are celebrating“Said activist Mamphela Ramphele, on behalf of those close to Tutu.
The event featured musical performances and interventions by representatives of different faiths, such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or traditional African religions, among others.
“The Archbishop was clear in his belief that ‘God belonged to all’ and the city will pay tribute to his spirit of inclusiveness,” the Cape Town City Council said in convening the event in a statement.
Also, this morning he highlighted the act of prayer organized in the street where Tutu lived – the old ghettos of Soweto (in the southwest of Johannesburg) – during the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties, a time that was among the bloodiest of the racist segregation regime of “apartheid”.
“It was Archbishop Tutu the who coined the expression ‘rainbow nation’, describing what we are as a nation “, emphasized during the act Mpho Phalatse, mayor of Johannesburg, after remembering that two Nobel laureates resided on that same road (Vilakazi street): Tutu and Nelson Mandela.
“We saw them walk and begin the journey of the dream they had for this nation, the dream of a peaceful South Africa, the dream of a united and reconciled South Africa”, Brand Phalatse.
This Wednesday there were also tributes in other parts of the country, such as in the Free State region, where the local Anglican diocese celebrated a mass in memory of the late Nobel Peace Prize in the city of Bloemfontein.
The tributes continue like this for the fourth consecutive day in South Africa to say goodbye to one of the most beloved and respected figures in recent history.
After anticipating that a large number of South Africans will come to pay their respects when Tutu’s coffin is exposed before the state funeral next Saturday, the Tutu Foundation and the authorities decided today that the public burning chapel will last two days and begin tomorrow, in instead of limiting it to Friday.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his fight against the racial oppression of “apartheid”, a Tutu se le considera one of the key figures in contemporary South African history.
His trajectory 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.
In recent years he had stayed away from public life due to his advanced age and health problems that he had dragged on for years, including prostate cancer. (I)
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