Desmond Tutu Claims He Wasn't Invited To Mandela Funeral

Government officials deny the alleged snub

B Mathur / Reuters

Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu canceled plans to attend former South African president Nelson Mandela's funeral Sunday because he said he was not invited, according to a statement.

'Much as I would have loved to attend the service to say a final farewell to someone I loved and treasured, it would have been disrespectful to Tata [Mandela] to gatecrash what was billed as a private family funeral,' Tutu said in the statement Saturday, the Associated Press reports. 'Had I or my office been informed that I would be welcome there is no way on earth that I would have missed it.'

The 82-year-old Nobel laureate is one of South African President Jacob Zuma's biggest critics, but a government spokesman denied the allegation that Tutu had been left out and asserted he was on the guest list, though the spokesman said was unclear if Tutu was expected to provide a eulogy.

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