Families and Funerals

I do plan to watch a bit of Nelson Mandela's funeral service tomorrow because it really is the end of an era, the passing of a man who led his country to freedom -  without resorting to violence and terrorism - deserves more than a fleeting moment of my time, as he is laid to rest. 

But I do agree that the wall-to-wall TV coverage is over the top and ridiculous with all these talking heads, most of them telling the world banal and boring things, often about how close they were to 'Madiba'. 

I reached my personal 'pass the sick bag' moment long ago, but the cracks are beginning to show with the news that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has not been invited to Mandela's final farewell in his ancestral home of Qunu.

Either the Mandela family or the ANC, or both, have decided to snub the old freedom fighter who was arguably the most effective and very public face of the Anti-Apartheid movement during the long years when Nelson Mandela was languishing in prison.

What a crazy way to behave, if you ask me, although funerals and bereavements can bring out the worst, as well as the best, in people.

Some say that Desmond Tutu has been deliberately snubbed due to his vocal criticism of the ANC Government of late, but the Mandela family could surely override such petty behaviour.

So why doesn't someone just make a stand, do the right thing - and reunite two old comrades and friends one last time?