STATEMENT BY CAPE TOWN MAYOR GEORDIN HILL-LEWIS

A city and a nation in mourning at the loss of our beloved “Arch”

Today our city and our nation has lost our beloved “Arch”. It is with great sadness that we bid farewell today to a man whose life was a living blessing to us all. Archbishop Desmond Tutu shaped South Africa for the better in ways that very few have done or will do.

I know I speak for the whole city in conveying our deep condolences to Mama Leah, the entire Tutu family, and to his extended family in the global Anglican Church.

We mourn the passing of the greatest Capetonian, and one of the last giants of our time. The Arch and Madiba were a formidable pair who together served as South Africa’s moral compass and vocal and critical conscience. Their unforgettable partnership will leave a lasting legacy in helping to heal the wounds of our country.

While we mourn the passing of the Arch, we also celebrate the powerful and uplifting impact that he had on our country, our world, and on all of our lives.

In Cape Town, we will honour the Arch’s memory in our dedication to our higher purpose of building the society he committed his life to – a society of unity, healing, dignity, and care

.A detailed memorial plan will be announced with the Church and the family later today.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has passed away at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning. He was 90.

Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and has lived for the past 23 years. In recent years he was hospitalized on several occasions to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.

Dr Ramphela Mamphele released a statement this morning Sunday 26 December confirming the death on behalf of the Tutu family. “South Africa and the world has lost one its greatest parents and role-models. The Arch was abnormally imbued with a sense of pastoral duty to serve the best interests of his species – the human family – and planet. To do the right thing. To make people feel part. To advance justice, humanness, peace and joy,” said Ramphela.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said Mzansi had lost an outstanding leader who fought for the liberation of South Africa.

President Ramaphosa said: “Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.

“A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world.”

Tutu recently turned 90 years in October where his birthday was celebrated during a church service at the St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.

Saanews