PURPLE LIGHT
Cape Town’s city hall, Arch for Arch – a monument commemorating Tutu – and the iconic Table Mountain, were illuminated in purple on Sunday, a nod to the robes that Tutu often donned.
A long-time friend of Nelson Mandela, Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his non-violent opposition to white minority rule. A decade later, he witnessed the end of that regime and chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to unearth the atrocities committed under it.
Standing 1.68m tall and with an infectious giggle, he later called the black political elite to account with as much feistiness as he had the Afrikaners, but his enduring spirit of reconciliation always shone through and he never stopped fighting for a “Rainbow Nation”.
The Diocese of Pretoria and the South African Council of Churches will hold a memorial service in the capital city on Wednesday.
On Thursday evening, the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation will host an “intimate evening” with friends of the Tutus, their statement said.
On Friday, Archbishop Tutu will lie in state at St George’s ahead of his funeral service on Saturday led by Archbishop Makgoba.
“We express our most sincere appreciation to people and organisations across the country and the world for the outpouring of love, respect and condolences that followed the Arch’s passing,” the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and Desmond & Leah Tutu legacy Foundation said.
