The City of Cape Town will light up Table Mountain and the city hall in purple in honour of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
In honour of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s commitment to religious inclusiveness and in celebration of his life, the City of Cape Town will host a special tribute at the City Hall on Wednesday December 29, at 6pm.
Representatives of the family and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation will be part of the service. Among the faiths represented will be Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Brahma Kumaris, Bahá’í, African Traditional Religion and Khoisan representatives. Various local and international artists will also pay tribute to the Arch as part of the service.
The Arch is quoted as saying, “It doesn’t matter where we worship or what we call God; there is only one, inter-dependent human family. We are born for goodness, to love – free of prejudice. All of us, without exception. There is greater commonality in our belief systems than we tend to credit, a golden thread expressed in the maxim that one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. I don’t believe in the notion of ‘opposing belief systems’.”
The Arch was clear in his belief that God “belonged to everyone” and the City will pay tribute to his spirit of inclusiveness through this special tribute, according to the mayor’s spokesperson, Greg Wagner.
Large screens will be placed outside the City Hall where members of the public are welcome to join and view the service as general public access will not be possible inside the City Hall due to limited seating as a result of ongoing national Covid-19 safety protocols.
The City will also live-stream the service on their YouTube channel and share the link on their various social media pages.