Tutu home burgled on day of Mandela memorial ceremony

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Burglars broke into the Cape Town home of Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu while he was in Johannesburg to attend the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, a Tutu family spokesman said on Wednesday. Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, used the pulpit to preach against apartheid and was a contemporary of former President Mandela, who died on Thursday at the age of 95. "I can confirm the house was broken into while he was in Gauteng with his family. No one was at home," said Tutu spokesman Roger Friedman, referring to the province that includes Johannesburg. Police said they were conducting routine patrols on Tuesday evening when they saw something amiss at Tutu's residence in Milnerton, about 20 km (12 miles) from Cape Town. Police have yet to determine what, if anything, was stolen and the investigation was continuing, police spokesman Tembinkosi Kinana said in a statement. A case of house-breaking had been opened and so far there were no arrests, he said. It is the second time Tutu's house has been burgled this year. In August he and his wife were at home when a gang broke in. They were unharmed but the gang made off with a number of items.