Anti-apartheid activist and religious leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu asked that his coffin be the “cheapest available”.
This is according to Mamphela Ramphele, co-chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust, and Mr Niclas Kjellstrom-Matseke, chairperson of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The pair said Tutu, who died on Sunday aged 90, wanted no ostentatiousness or lavish spending.
“He asked that the coffin be the cheapest available, and that a bouquet of carnations from his family be the only flowers in the cathedral,” they said.
On Tuesday the presidency announced that Tutu’s funeral, set to be held on Saturday at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, would be a “special category 1” official service.