By John Ikani
The hero of the anti-apartheid struggle, died a week ago, aged 90, after a life spent fighting injustice.
His ashes were “interred at St. George’s Cathedral in a private family service early today (Sunday)”, an Anglican Church statement said.
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba placed his remains under an inscribed memorial stone before the high altar.
He urged South Africans to “use this opportunity to turn a new page.
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.
The archbishop is widely revered across racial and cultural divides in South Africa for his moral rectitude and principled fight against white-minority rule.
Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his non-violent opposition to South Africa’s apartheid regime.
A decade later, he witnessed the end of that regime and chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help unearth state-sponsored atrocities during that era.
