africanews– Mourners gathered in Cape Town to say their last goodbyes to Nobel peace prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba this week revealed that the family of Tutu have been planning for his death and funeral arrangements for more than six years.
Despite his dying wish of not wanting an official state funeral, President Cyril Ramaphosa decided to give Tutu the category 1 special official funeral as an honor to his life.
“He was a humble man. Even whether we have a problem, we would turn to him and he would speak out. He wanted to buried like a simple man but President Ramaphosa wanted to honor him by giving him a state funeral.” Mphumzile khutshwayo, Archbishop and taxi rank manager.
In 2020, South Africa’s Public Works Minister, Patricia De Lille revealed that the government spent over 2 million US dollars for the state funeral of anti-apartheid fighter, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in 2018. South African citizen, Siseko Dayimani says he hopes that there will not be any state funeral fraud investigations after Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s funeral.
“Corruption has ended. Presidential Ramaphosa is trying hold those who are corrupt accountable. However, that is not enough because fraudsters are still there. We cannot runaway from that reality. I’m sure even at Desmond Tutu’s funeral, there will be people who try to defraud the state funds from the funeral.” Siseko dayimani, citizen
Prior to Tutu’s death at age ninety, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in his seventies and has been in and out of hospital for various treatments. The anti-apartheid’s ashes have been interred at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa.
