South Africa mourns anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu
South Africa on Monday began a week of mourning for the revered anti-apartheid fighter Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The Nobel Peace laureate died on Sunday at the age of 90, stripping the world of a towering moral figure and bringing the curtain down on a heroic South African era.
His funeral will be held on New Year's Day at Cape Town's St. George's Cathedral, his former parish, his foundation said, although ceremonies are likely to be muted because of COVID restrictions.
The widow of South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, on Monday mourned "the loss of a brother."
Tutu "is the last of an extraordinarily outstanding generation of leaders that Africa birthed and gifted to the world", she said in a statement.
"He masterfully used his position as a cleric to mobilise South Africans, Africans, and the global community against the brutalities and immorality of the apartheid government," she said.
"He stood resolute and fearless, leading demonstrations cloaked in his flowing clerical robe with his cross as his shield -- the embodiment of humankind's moral conscience."
The bells of St. George's will ring for 10 minutes from noon each day until Friday. The...