Year: 2021

Hundreds of mourners queued Thursday to pay their respects to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose body lies in state at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town where the anti-apartheid hero preached against racial injustice.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace prize winner widely revered across racial and cultural divides for his moral rectitude and principled fight against white minority rule, died Sunday at the age of 90.

His death represents a huge loss for South Africa, where many called him as “Tata” – father. Since Sunday, church bells have been rung every day in his honor and tributes and prayers have poured in from around the world.

Tutu will lie in state at the cathedral Thursday and Friday, ahead of a requiem Mass funeral service Saturday where President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to deliver the main eulogy.

“I am basically just here to pay my respects,” said Randall Ortel, a medical doctor and one of the first members of the public in line to enter the church. “He is definitely one of my role models and I want to emulate what he has done in his life,” he said.

Amanda Mbikwana said she had arrived as early as 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) with her mother and nephews. “We have known Tata’s work, he has stood up for us and we are here today in a free country to give him the honor, to celebrate his life and to support [his wife] Mama Leah and the family,” said Mbikwana, a human resources manager.

‘Voice of reason’

Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 in recognition of his non-violent opposition to white minority rule. 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.

“He was always the voice of the voiceless and always the voice of reason,” said fellow anti-apartheid activist Chris Nissen, as he waited in line outside the cathedral.

Tutu’s simple pine coffin with rope handles, adorned with a single bunch of white carnations, was carried into St. George’s, which provided a safe haven for anti-apartheid activists during the repressive white-minority rule.

Emotional family members met the coffin outside the entrance, where six black-robed clergy acting as pall bearers carried the closed coffin inside to an inner sanctuary amid a cloud of incense from the Anglican thurible.

Tutu, who requested the cheapest coffin and did not want any lavish funeral expense, will be cremated and his remains interred behind the cathedral pulpit he often used to preach against racial injustice.

In Johannesburg, a memorial service was held at St. Mary’s Cathedral, where Tutu was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1961 and where he later served as the first Black Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg in 1985.

An interfaith prayer service also was held in Pretoria.

Source: Voice of America

A conference in Mali charged with recommending a timetable for democratic elections following a military coup said on Thursday that polls scheduled for February should be delayed by six months to five years in part because of security issues.

Mali’s transitional government initially agreed to hold elections in February 2022, 18 months after an army faction led by Colonel Assimi Goita overthrew President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita.

But it has made little progress, blaming disorganization and Islamist violence in the north and central parts of the country.

ECOWAS, West Africa’s main political and economic bloc, has imposed sanctions on the coup leaders and had promised more if Mali did not produce a plan for February elections by Friday.

The government has said it will take the recommendations of the National Refoundation Conference and decide on a new election calendar by the end of January.

A prolonged transition back to democracy could isolate Mali from its neighbors and from former colonial power France, which has thousands of soldiers deployed there against insurgents linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State.

It could also undermine democracy in West and Central Africa, where military coup leaders in Chad and Guinea are also under pressure to organize elections and give up power.

The proposed election timetable comes at a delicate time politically. France is reducing its military presence in the north, and Russia has sent private military contractors to train Malian troops, a move Western powers worry is the beginning of a wider Russian deployment.

Source: Voice of America

Kenyan lawmakers brawled Wednesday as they debated proposed changes to a law governing the conduct of political parties and the formation of coalitions ahead of the 2022 election.

Video broadcast on television showed lawmakers engaged in a shouting match and coming to blows as they fought over the measure. One member of parliament was seen with blood on his cheek. Another was suspended.

At issue is a bill that will guide political parties on how to conduct political affairs leading up to the election. If passed, the legislation would allow several parties to form a coalition and choose a presidential candidate.

Political commentator Martin Andati said those behind the bill aim to use the constitution to force a political winning formula.

“The handshake team which is the president and the former prime minister, are trying to use a political route to find a way to get people who are not supporting them to either go on their side or Ruto’s side so that they are able to draw a political strategy,” he said.

Opponents of the bill, most supporting Deputy President William Ruto, see it as a plan by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga to force the smaller parties to merge with them to win the election.

Those against the measure introduced separate amendments, which critics say were meant to paralyze the parliamentary proceedings.

Political expert Michael Agwanda said the proposed changes mean that lawmakers will have to be loyal to their parties.

“What it means is that you are either part of government or not part of government by instrument and you cannot cross on the other side unless you just decided to do that; but you will not be part of that government if you don’t belong to the coalition that makes the government,” he said.

The proposed changes will require the parties to form a coalition four months before the election, thereby blocking them from joining another coalition party.

Agwanda said bigger parties are targeting the support of the smaller ones.

“It’s incumbent upon the political parties now to decide which coalition they want to join because that’s key to either forming the next government or not. I think they are targeting smaller parties to make serious decisions to support the big guys, they are also targeting parties like ANC, they are also targeting parties like FORD Kenya and they know very well they cannot make the next government. As a result, they are saying you either belong to us or you don’t and if you don’t, then you go to oblivion,” he said.

Kenyan politicians are fond of changing political sides to suit their interests, which analysts say has hurt the opposition.

The sponsor of the bill, Amos Kimunya, said he has asked the parliament speaker for another meeting so the legislation can be wrapped up.

“Let’s keep up the spirit because at the end of it all what we are doing is for better political party governance in this country as we deepen and widen our democracy for purposes of posterity,” he said.

The debate ended with members of parliament voting for eight proposed changes out of 27. Parliament will reconvene in January to vote.

Source: Voice of America