By John Ikani
The body of Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be aquamated – a greener alternative to cremation using water and chemicals.
Thereafter, his ashes will be interred behind the pulpit at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town – the Anglican diocese he served as Archbishop for 35 years.
Aquamation – a process using water – is as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation.
The ‘environmentally friendly’ process is said to cut the amount of harmful carbon dioxide by up to 90 per cent.
It involves heating the body in a mixture of potassium hydroxide and water for up to 90 minutes leaving only the bones.
These are then rinsed in the solution at 120C (248F), dried and pulverised into ashes.
The Dean of St George’s Cathedral, the Very Reverend Michael Weeder, said it was what Archbishop Tutu ‘aspired to as an eco-warrior’.
His ashes are to be interred behind the pulpit at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town – the Anglican diocese he served as Archbishop for 35 years.
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.
He died aged 90 on 26 December.
His death represents a huge loss for South Africa, where many called him “Tata” – meaning father.
Church bells have been rung every day in his honour since his death and tributes and prayers have poured in from around the world.
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.
