South Africa began a week of mourning on Monday for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a huge moral figure in the fight against apartheid, but also a malice, a warmth, a communicative cascading laugh, which the country already feels orphan.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who died peacefully on Sunday at the age of 90, had retired from public life in recent months, visibly weakened. But everyone remembers his little purple silhouette, his legendary tenacity and his outspokenness in denouncing injustices and damaging all powers.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the family in the afternoon. “He was brave, he was outspoken, and we loved him for that, because he gave a voice to those who don’t have one,” the head of state told reporters as they left the house. Anglican Archbishop, Cape Town.
“When we were young militants, if Archbishop Tutu was present, the police or the army never shot at us. Why ? We really do not know. But it served as a shield, ”tweeted Panyaza Lesufi, now an ANC executive, the apartheid gravedigger party which is still in power.
He gave a voice to those who don’t have one
The funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Saint-Georges Cathedral in Cape Town, its former parish. The body, placed in the fiery chapel on Friday, will be cremated, and the ashes will rest in the cathedral.
Attendance will be limited to around 100 people due to COVID-19, although more than 400 have already expressed their intention to attend the celebration, the Anglican Church, who said at a press conference, said at a press conference. encouraged the faithful to attend Mass from home.
“Resolute and fearless”
Arch, as he is affectionately known in South Africa, “is the last of an extraordinarily remarkable generation of African leaders,” Nelson Mandela’s widow Graça Machel wrote on Monday of “the loss of a brother”.
“From his pulpit, skillfully using his moral authority, Arch condemned with passion apartheid and eloquently called for sanctions against the racist regime,” recalls the Mozambican activist.
Despite “the indescribable courage” that was then needed to fight, “he stood resolute and fearless, leading the demonstrations, clerical robe flowing, with his cross as a shield,” she describes, recalling that on a personal level, it’s Mgr Tutu which had incited “Madiba and myself” to formalize their union by a marriage.
From Monday to Friday, the bells of Saint George’s Cathedral will ring for ten minutes, starting at noon. The Archbishop of Cape Town asked those who hear them “to take a break from their busy schedule” to think of Tutu.
Crazy laughs
Tributes continued to flow around the world from many heads of state, but also from religious authorities, including Pope Francis.
“In the eyes of Desmond Tutu we saw the love of Jesus […] In his laughter we heard the joy of Jesus, ”said Anglican spiritual leader Justin Welby.
His friend the Dalai Lama praised a “great man, who lived a life full of meaning”. Their common laughter, when they mocked each other happily about their religious differences, are the delight of South African television channels which broadcast these images in a loop.
South Africans by the dozen continued Monday to meditate, despite the rain, in front of Cape Town Cathedral, where a register was opened to deposit messages.
After the advent of democracy in 1994 and the election of his friend Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu coined the term “Rainbow Nation”. He had chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he hoped, thanks to the confrontation of the executioners and the victims, that it would make it possible to turn the page on racial hatred.