Johannesburg- Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s funeral will take place in Cape Town on Saturday the 1st of January 2022.
Tutu passed away in frail care on 26 December 2021 at the age of 90.
Tutu will lie in state in St George’s Cathedral on Friday awaiting his burial on Saturday.
Church bells have been rung every day in his honour since his death and tributes and prayers have poured in from around the world.
Tutu, who was South Africa’s first black archbishop, requested “no lavish spending” on his funeral and he even, “asked that the coffin be the cheapest available”, his foundation said.
“We will accommodate as many people as we can in the hours available. Outside the Cathedral, the City has laid out condolence books and places to leave flowers.”
“The funeral would be held under strict observance of the Covid-19 regulations, which restrict attendance at funerals to a maximum of 100 people,” said Bishop Makgoba.
Makgoba urged people to attend services in their local churches as their list of possible attendees at the funeral runs to 400 or 500 names, which is more than what the regulations allow.
“Only a fraction of those who want to be there can be accommodated in the cathedral. So please don’t get on a bus to Cape Town.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a special official state funeral category one for the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the highest designation usually reserved for the president of the republic and former presidents such as Nelson Mandela.
Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba, who will lead the funeral on Saturday, has asked that those who hear the bells “pause their busy schedules for a moment in tribute”.
Tutu’s funeral will be streamed on different platforms online as well as on television.
Also read: Look: South Africans saddened by the death of Archbishop Tutu
Read: Desmond Tutu: Moral giant who told us what we needed to hear
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