SOUTH AFRICA’S ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu, one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, has died at the age of 90, the President’s Office has said.
The anti-apartheid activist had been living with prostate cancer for many years.
“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
A statement on behalf of the Tutu family described him as a man who “turned his own misfortune into a teaching opportunity to raise awareness and reduce the suffering of others.”
Leading campaigner
Tutu was a leading campaigner against the apartheid policies of South Africa’s National Party, which ruled the country until 1994.
Born in 1931, he became a key organiser of peaceful demonstrations against white minority rule.
He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1984.
As South Africa transitioned to democracy, he headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission charged with uncovering the truth about human rights violations committed during the apartheid era.
Tutu is credited with coining the term “rainbow nation” to describe the nation’s ethnic diversity.
Although he retired in 2011, he continued to travel widely and speak out against injustice.
Famously outspoken, even after the fall of the racist apartheid regime, Tutu never shied away from confronting South Africa’s shortcomings or injustices.
Whether taking on his church over gay rights, lobbying for Palestinian statehood or calling out South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on corruption, his high-profile campaigns were thorny and often unwelcome.
None at the top were spared – not even his close friend, late president Nelson Mandela, with whom Tutu sparred in 1994 over what he called the ANC’s “gravy train mentality”.
Along the way, he won a host of admirers.
“I believe that God is waiting for the archbishop. He is waiting to welcome Desmond Tutu with open arms,” said Mandela, who stayed at Tutu’s home on his first night of freedom in 1990, after 27 years in apartheid jails.
“If Desmond gets to heaven and is denied entry, then none of the rest of us will get in!”
The Dalai Lama called Tutu his “spiritual older brother”.
Irish activist and pop star Bob Geldof praised him as “a complete pain in the arse” for those in power, and US President Barack Obama hailed him as “a moral titan”.
Among Tutu’s critics were Zimbabwe’s veteran former president Robert Mugabe, who described him as an “evil and embittered little bishop”.
Even with his global celebrity, his faith remained an integral part of his life.
His family’s road trips included quiet time for prayers, and his missives blasting the evils of apartheid were signed off with “God bless you”.
A recipient of numerous awards, his causes ranged from child marriage to Tibet to calls for Western leaders to be tried over the Iraq war, and in later year for the right-to-die.
He also swore he would never worship a homophobic God.
“I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” he said.
Born in the small town of Klerksdorp, west of Johannesburg, on 7 October, 1931, Tutu was the son of a domestic worker and a school teacher.
Following in his father’s footsteps, he trained as a teacher before anger at the inferior education system set up for black children prompted him to become a priest.
He lived for a while in Britain, where, he recalled, he would needlessly ask for directions just to be called “Sir” by a white policeman.
Tutu believed firmly in the reconciliation of black and white South Africans.
“I am walking on clouds. It is an incredible feeling, like falling in love. We South Africans are going to be the Rainbow People of the world,” he said in 1994.
But post-apartheid South Africa increasingly became a source of his despair, as the high hopes of the early days of democracy gave way to disillusionment over violence, inequality and graft.
Never a member of the ANC, Tutu said in 2013 that he would no longer vote for the party, though President Cyril Ramaphosa – an old friend – re-built bridges after coming to power in 2018.
Tutu made a rare public appearance in May 2021 to receive his vaccine for Covid-19. He appeared outside of hospital in a wheelchair, and waved but did not speak.
He married his wife Leah in 1955. They had four children.
With reporting from AFP
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