INTERNATIONAL: Archibishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon, a veteran of the struggle against white minority rule, died on Sunday at the age of 90. Desmond Mpilo Tutu was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first black African to hold the position.

He was considered a “universal spirit.” Many people paid tribute to Tata, as what they fondly called him but due to Covid restrictions, only 100 people can attend the funeral for South Africa's anti-apartheid hero, it was announced in Cape Town on Monday. Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba has announced, around 400-500 people were on a list of possible attendees for the funeral on 1 January.

COVID regulations has restricted attendance at funerals to a maximum of 100. Only a fraction of those who want to be there can be accommodated in the cathedral. Archbishop Makgoba has asked people not to get into a bus to Cape Town. They have arranged those cathedrals and the local parishes so that it cater for everyone’s needs. On Friday, Archbishop Tutu will lie in state at St George's cathedral in the city ahead of his funeral service there at 10am on Saturday led by the city's Archbishop Makgoba.

Nobel Prize winner Tutu, who had preached against the tyranny of the white minority and was revered as his nation's moral conscience by those both those Black and white, had led numerous campaigns and marches against apartheid from St George's steps. Mourners have laid flowers in tribute to Tutu outside what has become known as the "People's Cathedral" and a powerful symbol of democracy, where a black and white image of Tutu was attached to a fence.