Mourners queue in Cape Town to see casket of former archbishop, who requested a funeral without lavish expense

Hundreds of mourners queued outside Saint George’s cathedral in Cape Town, waiting to pay their respects before the plain wooden casket bearing the remains of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died six days ago aged 90.

Clerics, family members, close friends and dignitaries will attend a requiem mass for Tutu, the icon of the fight for freedom in South Africa, on Saturday morning. Their numbers will be restricted due to Covid regulations. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to read a eulogy.

The beloved anti-apartheid hero will lie in state for two days in Cape Town before a funeral on 1 January

Thousands of South Africans will pause to remember the anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday aged 90, every day this week as bells are rung at churches across the country for 10 minutes at noon.

Tributes to Tutu, described as the “moral compass” of his country, have poured in from around the world since his death in a Cape Town care home, as a series of events commemorating his life and achievements begin.

Politicians, religious figures and activists pay tribute to archbishop, who died on Boxing Day aged 90

Politicians, religious figures and activists from around the world have paid tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the cleric, social activist and giant of South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule who died on Sunday aged 90.

The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, said: “The passing of archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa.

Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, the cleric and social activist who was a giant of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, has died aged 90. Tutu, described by foreign observers and his countrymen as the moral conscience of his nation, died in Cape Town on Boxing Day.

Excitable, emotional and charismatic, Tutu won the Nobel peace prize in 1984 and chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the controversial and emotional hearings into apartheid-era human rights abuses. This is his life, in his own words

• Anti-apartheid hero Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies aged 90
• ‘A patriot without equal’: world mourns death of Desmond Tutu

Described as South Africa’s moral compass, Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid Nobel peace prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights, and retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, has died aged 90. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, Tutu worked tirelessly but non-violently for its downfall

• Desmond Tutu: in his own words – video obituary

Desmond Tutu, the cleric and social activist who was a giant of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, has died aged 90

• Desmond Tutu, giant in fight against apartheid South Africa, dies at 90

More reaction to Tutu’s death from South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba:

Ramaphosa said:

The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation*s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa.

Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.

Desmond Tutu’s legacy is moral strength, moral courage and clarity. He felt with the people. In public and alone, he cried because he felt people’s pain. And he laughed * no, not just laughed, he cackled with delight when he shared their joy.

The loss of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu is immeasurable. He was larger than life, and for so many in South Africa and around the world his life has been a blessing. His contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies. He was an extraordinary human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this most difficult time.

“The Arch meant everything to me,” said foundation chief executive Sello Hatang. “I first met him during the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and was privileged to work with him on a number of projects over the years. He was a friend to Madiba and to the Foundation.”