Desmond Tutu: I will not attend Nelson Mandela's funeral

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/14/desmond-tutu-nelson-mandela-funeral-anc

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Desmond Tutu, a longtime friend of Nelson Mandela, has said he will not be going to the former South African president's funeral because he has not been invited.

The retired archbishop and veteran anti-apartheid campaigner said he had cancelled plans to fly to the Eastern Cape to attend the ceremony in the village of Qunu on Sunday after receiving no indication that his name was on the guest or accreditation lists.

One of the most vocal campaigners for the release of Mandela during his imprisonment, Tutu said in a statement on Saturday: "Much as I would have loved to attend the service to say a final farewell to someone I loved and treasured, it would have been disrespectful to Tata [Mandela] to gatecrash what was billed as a private family funeral. Had I or my office been informed that I would be welcome there is no way on Earth that I would have missed it."

But a spokesman for the president, Jacob Zuma, said Tutu was on the guest list and that he hoped a solution would be found that allowed him to attend. "Certainly he is invited," Mac Maharaj said. "He's an important person."

The comment from the president's office comes amid growing criticism of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, for its apparent failure to invite Tutu to the funeral. ANC spokespeople have avoided making a statement about the apparent snub.

Tutu has become a fierce critic of the ANC in recent years. In 2011 he compared it to the apartheid regime and warned that "one day we will pray for the defeat of the ANC government".

An estimated 5,000 guests, including Prince Charles, the Malawian president, Joyce Banda, civil rights activist the Rev Jesse Jackson and other dignitaries, will attend the state funeral in Qunu, the village where Mandela grew up in Eastern Cape province.

Eyebrows were raised when Tutu's name did not appear on the order of service for Mandela's national memorial service in Johannesburg on Tuesday. He was eventually invited to speak after the main programme, but by then the stadium was virtually empty.

His absence from Sunday's burial, the climax of an unprecedented week of mourning in South Africa, provoked anger and bewilderment.

Bantu Holomisa, a former ANC politician close to the Mandela family, said: "There must be a mistake. Why would the government not do that? He should be the first person accredited. It's strange – there must have been a breakdown."

Asked if Tutu's attacks on the ANC were the cause, Holomisa replied: "They cannot use that. Mandela and Tutu were like brothers. Mandela had time for Tutu and Tutu had time for Mandela. It doesn't sound good at all."

Aubrey Matshiqi, a research fellow at the Helen Suzman Foundation, said: "It's quite sad that he's not been invited. Is it the family or is it the government? Is it both? Did the family come under pressure not to invite him?

"It's a very bad decision, given how close they were. In the absence of a convincing explanation, it looks petty."

Allister Sparks, a veteran journalist and biographer of Tutu, said: "I don't know what to make of it. I would have thought he belonged there. Tutu has been quite a vocal critic of the ANC. It comes as a surprise and arouses suspicions of a political motivation behind it."

He said Tutu and Mandela had been close: "Through the period when Mandela was in jail, Tutu was effectively the leader of the liberation struggle in this country."

Earlier this year Tutu condemned the Mandela family for fighting each other in court while Mandela lay ill in hospital, describing their public battle over his children's reburial place as "almost like spitting in Madiba's face".

A spokesman for the Mandelas said: "The family is not involved in who should come and not come at that level. They are busy mourning. It is the state that is encouraging people to attend or not attend. I'm not aware of any exclusion."

Government ministers in Qunu were reluctant to comment on the matter on Friday. Dipuo Peters, the transport minister, said: "In African culture we don't invite people to funerals; they say they would like to attend. I don't know about Bishop Tutu – you're giving me news."

Preparations for the three-hour funeral have overwhelmed the village where farm animals roam among single-storey roundhouses. A giant marquee that resembles an early 20th century airship has been erected on Mandela family land to receive guests.

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