Former president Thabo Mbeki has praised the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for his “peaceful efforts in the fight for freedom from white minority rule” till 1994 when the country became a democracy.
Mbeki made the remarks on Monday at the reports that Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and played a leading role in the struggle to abolish the apartheid system towards a democratic South Africa, had died on Sunday.
“We have lost one of our most outstanding leaders who was at the forefront of the struggle to defeat the apartheid regime at a very difficult time – when many people were killed and jailed,” Mbeki, who was in exile in Zambia till 1990, said.
He added: “But the Archbishop was there in the front trenches — and he was part of the process of the creation of the new South Africa.”
“None of us will forget those images when he sat at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for the building of the new South Africa,” Mbeki added.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Trust and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation have confirmed plans for a “week of mourning” leading up to the funeral service at his former St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
In the programme, the bells of St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town will be rung daily for 10 minutes from Monday to Friday starting at midday.
Anglican Church Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, who will lead the funeral on January 1, has urged those who hear the bells to “pause their busy schedules for a moment in tribute,” the programme said.
The Anglican Diocese of Pretoria and the South African Council of Churches will hold a memorial service in the capital city on Wednesday, according to the programme.
The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Trust and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation will host an intimate evening with Tutu’s friends and his wife of 66 years on Thursday, it said.
Tutu will lie in state in St George’s Cathedral on Friday, the programme said.
Tutu was married to Nomalizo Leah Tutu for 66 years, and have four children — Trevor, Thandeka, Naomi and Mpho.
NM/jn/APA