JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The bells of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town will ring every day for 10 minutes, until Friday, in honor of South Africa’s anti-apartheid veteran Archbishop Desmond Tutu , died Sunday at the age of 90.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, considered the moral conscience of the country, has led numerous campaigns and marches against apartheid from the square of this cathedral, nicknamed the “People’s Cathedral”.
“Cape Town Archbishop Thabo Makgoba calls on all who hear the bells to take a break from their busy schedules to pay homage to Archbishop Tutu,” Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and Desmond foundations said Sunday evening & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation who represent the family and legacy of Desmond Tutu.
The bells will kick off a week of national mourning to honor the memory of Desmond Tutu, who passed away peacefully in a Cape Town retirement home, sparking an avalanche of tributes around the world.
In 1984, Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid. A decade later, he chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created after the abolition in 1991 of apartheid, in order to shed light on the crimes committed by this racist regime, dominated by the white minority.
Since then, he had never ceased to fight against injustices and corruption, regretting at the end of his life that his dream of a “rainbow nation” had not yet been realized.
The Diocese of Pretoria and the South African Council of Churches will hold a memorial service in the South African capital on Wednesday.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will rest in the Burning Chapel in St. George on Friday before the funeral service on Saturday, which will be led by Archbishop Makgoba.
“We express our most sincere gratitude to the people and organizations across the country and around the world for the love, respect and condolences that have followed the passing of the Archbishop,” said Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and Desmond & Leah Tutu legacy Foundation.
(Emma Rumney report; French version Anait Miridzhanian, edited by Blandine Hénault)