CAPE TOWN: South Africa said farewell on Saturday to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the last great hero of the struggle against apartheid, in a funeral stripped of pomp but freighted with glowing tributes and showered with rain. We remember him with a smile,” said Ramaphosa before handing South Africa’s multi-coloured flag to the “chief mourner”, Tutu’s widow, Leah. Others included the widow of the last apartheid leader FW de Klerk, who died in November, and ex-presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe. With Mandela and other leaders sentenced to decades in prison, Tutu in the 1970s became the emblem of the struggle. After apartheid was dismantled and South Africa ushered in the first free elections in 1994, Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 02, 2022 02:07 UTC