Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has confirmed that he's not received an invite or accreditation to attend Madiba's funeral.
Earlier, Tutu's daughter Mpho was quoted by a Saturday newspaper as saying that her father did not have accreditation to attend Madiba's burial in Qunu in the Eastern Cape.
Government has however denied this, stating that Tutu is on the list of the accredited people to attend the funeral.
In a follow-up statement Tutu's spokesperson, Roger Friedman says the Archbishop cancelled his flight to East London on Friday because he had not received an indication that his name was on the guest list.
He says Tutu would have loved to attend the service to say goodbye to someone he loved and treasured.
Friedman says Tutu feels it would be disrespectful to Madiba to gatecrash a private family funeral.
There's been speculation that Tutu was not invited because of his outspoken criticism of government.
He was also left out of the official programme for the Mandela memorial held at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday, but was called at the last minute to bless the service.
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