Cape Town to fete Tutu’s guests

Press, 29 August 1986, Page 6

Cape Town to fete Tutu’s guests

NZPA-Reuter Cape Town Cape Town’s white liberal City Council said yesterday that it would be host to a dinner for foreigners invited by the Rt Rev Desmond Tutu to his enthronement as archbishop of the city next month. White conservatives have strongly protested against Bishop Tutu's guest-list, which includes prominent advocates of sanctions against South Africa. The local tourist board said it would offer the visitors a whistle-stop sight-seeing tour, taking in beaches reserved until last year for whites. Conservative newspapers have launched attacks on Bishop Tutu for inviting politicians and entertainers to the ceremony on September 7, which will make him spiritual leader of millions of southern African Anglicans. But Cape Town's Mayor, Mr Leon Markovitz, said that he would be host to a buffet supper for up to 200 of the visitors after the enthronement

"Nothing at all abnormal should be read into

this,” he said. “It’s the type of reception we give for any major event in Cape Town where international guests are involved.” Right-wing newspapers have accused Bishop Tutu of “turning a religious high-point into some sort of pop festival” by inviting people such as the black American singers, Stevie Wonder and Harry Belafonte. Letter-writers to the Cape Town “Argus” demanded to know who would pay for the visitors’ “plush hotels” and for their security, “as some ... are not even very beloved in their own country”. “Die Burger,” a supporter of the President, Mr Pieter Botha, accused Bishop Tutu of seeking to embarrass the Government with his “list of invited celebrities, whose international fame or infamy is often scarcely due to their religious sympathies”. The Government has offered no special treatment to guests previously denied visas because of their anti-apartheid views.