President Cyril Ramaphosa pays a final tribute to Desmond Tutu, “spiritual father” of South African democracy – archyde

South Africa greeted, Saturday 1^er January in Cape Town, his last great hero of the fight against apartheid, Desmond Tutu, during a funeral without pomp – as the Nobel Peace Prize 1984 had wished – but full of emotion. Family, friends, priests and dignitaries flocked to St. George’s Anglican Cathedral for a requiem mass for which Desmond Tutu, who died peacefully on December 26 at the age of 90, had settled the smallest details, choosing readings and speakers.

“Daddy would say the love the whole world has shown us warms our hearts (…). We thank you for having loved it so much »her daughter, Mpho Andrea, told the audience. After the national anthem, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the eulogy. “If Archbishop Desmond Tutu were there he would say, ‘Why do you look so sad, so miserable?’ “, he joked.

“Madiba [nom de clan de Nelson Mandela] was the father of our democracy; Archbishop Tutu, his spiritual father ”, declared the Head of State before solemnly handing over the national flag to the widow of the disappeared, called “Mama Leah” in the country.

The light pine coffin rested the previous two days in St. George’s Cathedral, to allow thousands of people to come to honor the memory of the archbishop’s battles and enthusiasm. Desmond Tutu had asked “The cheapest possible”. No gold handles, but simple pieces of rope to be able to carry it. Above, a bouquet of white carnations, the only flowers arranged in the church according to the wishes of the deceased.

“A taste of what our country could be”

A close and longtime friend, former Bishop Michael Nuttall, was chosen to deliver the sermon. Their link “Has undoubtedly struck a chord in the hearts and minds of many: a dynamic black leader and his white deputy in the last years of apartheid was no small feat. And the sky did not collapse! “, he said from the altar. “We were a taste of what our divided country could be. “

He also recalled that Nelson Mandela referred to Tutu as “Voice of the voiceless”, a voice “Sometimes strident, often tender, never afraid and rarely devoid of humor”. The former president of Ireland Mary Robinson was to participate in the reading of the universal prayer, in the presence of Letsie III, the king of Lesotho, a neighboring country, or even Ngodup Dorjee, a representative of the Dalai Lama with whom Desmond Tutu has exchanged memorable laughs: “Their friendship was unique”, he told Agence France-Presse. “As soon as they met, they laughed. The only explanation for this is a karmic connection in the past ”, he added very seriously.

The week was marked with tributes to Desmond Tutu across the country and beyond. South Africans remembered his tenacity in the face of the oppressive Pretoria regime. In Soweto, where he preached for a long time, he denounced the violence against high school students during the riots of June 1976, repressed in blood. Little by little, he becomes the voice of Nelson Mandela, locked up on Robben Island. The police and the army threaten him. Only her dress then saved her from prison.

In demonstrations, “He served us as a shield”, remembered Panyaza Lesufi, now a member of the African National Congress (ANC), a historic party still in power. “He stood resolute and fearless, in front of the demonstrations, his clerical robe fluttering in the wind, his cross as a shield”, described Mandela’s widow, Graça Machel.

For his funeral, Desmond Tutu chose, in his last message to men, the passage from the Gospel according to Saint John where Jesus addresses his disciples after their last meal. A message of love: “My commandment is this: Love one another as I have loved you. “