Tutu died last Sunday at the age of 90, sparking a global outpouring of tributes to the anti-apartheid hero. He had been in poor health for several years.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who delivered the main eulogy during the service at St. George’s Cathedral on Saturday, hailed Tutu as “our national conscience.” Tutu’s widow Nomalizo Leah, known as “Mama Leah,” sat in a wheelchair in the front row of the congregation, draped in a purple scarf, the color of her husband’s clerical robes.
For decades, Tutu was one of the primary voices pushing the South African government to end apartheid, the country’s official policy of racial segregation and White minority rule. He won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, before apartheid ended in the early 1990s and the long-imprisoned Nelson Mandela became the nation’s first Black president.
The revered anti-apartheid fighter will be remembered…
