Cape Town city councillors have voted unanimously to grant the freedom of the city to their city's former archbishop, the Rt Revd Desmond Tutu.

The municipality recently reaped local and international scorn when a previous proposal to grant Archbishop Tutu the honour failed to win sufficient votes from the councillors on 30 October. Archbishop Tutu is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who won respect world-wide for his opposition to apartheid. The ANC councillors were also criticised for not having checked before last month's vote to ensure that the proposal to make Archbishop Tutu a freeman would get the necessary number of votes. He is now chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is trying to heal the wounds of the country's racist past.

Clearly embarrassed by the outcome of last month's secret vote, all 65 councillors present at a council meeting on 10th November, raised their hands when a public vote was called. A minimum of 50 votes was required.

Cape Town Council members belonging to President Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) accused councillors of the National Party (NP), custodians of the former apartheid regime, of having blocked the previous attempt to honour Cape Town's most famous citizen. Earlier this year Archbishop Tutu angered the NP by accusing it of having failed to accept full responsibility for human rights abuses carried out during the apartheid era. However, the ANC councillors were also criticised for not having checked before last month's vote to ensure that the proposal to make Archbishop Tutu a freeman would get the necessary number of votes.