Tutu's feel the love

Sixty years after they said "I do", retired Cape Town archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah are more in love than ever.

The couple reaffirmed their vows at the St George's Cathedral in Cape Town yesterday on their 60th wedding anniversary. The event was graced by fellow Nobel Prize laureate and former president FW de Klerk.

Their daughter, Reverend Mpho Tutu, presided over their renewed pledge, while former Unisa vice-chancellor Barney Pityana delivered the sermon.

Tutu thanked De Klerk, the last apartheid president, for paving the way for democracy and for averting a "bloodbath".

Said Tutu: "Thank you Mr De Klerk, as South Africans we owe you a great gratitude that you were not intransigent.

"Finally I want to say thank [Leah] very much because I would be nowhere near what God wanted me [to] be without you.

"I owe all that I am to you, and God was very good to bring you to me even if you do put up placards that say 'You are entitled to your wrong opinion'."

The couple clutched on walking sticks as they stood to renew their vows.

Leah had the congregation in stitches when instead of pledging to hold on to her husband "for better, for worse", she said: "for better, for better".

After taking her parents through their pledges, Mpho said: "It is such a wonderful celebration. It is such a privilege to be able to stand in front of my parents after 60 years of marriage [and] to be able to say to them 'I bless your marriage'."

Tutu quipped that the secret to a lasting marriage was "understanding who wears the pants", namely the wife.

Pityana also thanked the couple for opening their home to him and other student activists during the struggle against apartheid.

-Philani Nombembe, TimesLIVE