Johannesburg - The Tutu love story moved to Joburg as the two lovebirds tottered up the aisle, each with the aid of a walking stick.
They weren’t waited on hand-and-foot, but arrived early instead, to sit quietly at the back of the church – the Holy Cross Anglican Church, just opposite the Hector Pieterson Memorial site in Orlando, Soweto.
Here to renew their vows on the 60th anniversary of their wedding, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah were clearly in their element, rising now and then to do the jitterbug, especially the amiable “groom”.
The church was packed with well-wishers almost two hours before the function’s 10am start.
There was no confetti or any highbrow shenanigans that characterise modern-day nuptials. Instead the event was marked by ecclesiastical pomp and ceremony.
Renewing wedding vows could well be in vogue from now on!
The award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir kept the guests entertained with curtain-raiser performances, joined by the iconic Imilonji Kantu, under the baton of long-time leader George Mxadana.
And, as has come to be expected of them, the two choirs did not disappoint, singing to the heavens.
The opening hymn for the official ceremony was the “struggle hymn” Lizalis’indinga lakho, that was sung by delegates on January 8, 1912, at the ANC’s founding conference.
Ex-president Thabo Mbeki, who virtually grew up in the ANC, sang along, line by line. This is no doubt one hymn he has to know!
Mbeki, who was not accompanied by his better half, was seated next to former first lady, Graca Machel. When his presence in the church was acknowledged, shouts of “Zizi” – his clan name – rang out inside the venue, which was heavy with incense. “Bring him back,” someone else called out, to loud applause.
Every little item on the programme – which was not by any measure brief – was observed, but luckily there was not a dull moment. Nontombi Naomi Tutu, who gave the homily, spoke very well; quite clearly the offspring of a public speaker. With “a divorce or two” that people knew of, she joked that she was hardly the one to speak on Mark 10: 2-9. “…For this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
But she acquitted herself well, and elicited prolonged applause.
“Your spouse’s pain is your pain.”
She decried abusive relationships, saying people misunderstood this scripture, and stayed married despite the unscriptural hardships.
In explaining it, Ms Tutu said that if a man and woman became one flesh “the wife who stabs her husband is injuring herself; the husband who beats his wife is beating himself”.
She said she and her siblings did their best to put asunder what God had joined together, but their parents could see through these childish pranks: “They knew that their primary commitment was to each other.”
The Arch and his wife did things together, she said: “They go together. Like Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra.”
The Tutu children were in attendance, from Trevor Tutu, who was dressed as if he was going on a quick errand to the corner café (in blue chinos and navy V-neck), to Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe, who later gave the vote of thanks.
The Reverend Mpho Tutu officiated over the re-affirmations of vows, just as she’s done midweek at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. The voices of the choirs and the music that filled the church had The Arch dancing along most of the time, with his bride mostly seated. For her part, Leah Tutu seems not to have the word “worse” in her vocabulary. Twice she said “for better or… better”.
After the ceremony, the couple walked hand in hand to a waiting car taking them to lunch.
The Sunday Tribune