Post by Admin on Dec 26, 2021 11:20:46 GMT -4
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the main figures of South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, has died at the age of 90.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was a veteran of the country’s struggle against white minority rule, working alongside Nelson Mandela.
Buoyant and blunt-spoken, the clergyman used his pulpit as the first black bishop of Johannesburg and later Archbishop of Cape Town to galvanise public opinion against racial inequity both at home and globally.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said: ‘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.
He described him as a ‘patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.’
The President called him a ‘man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid.
‘He was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world,’ Ramaphosa added.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Archbishop Desmond Tutu would be remembered for his leadership and humour.
He added: ‘I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
‘He was a critical figure in the fight against apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa – and will be remembered for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humour.’
Mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis, said: ‘I know I speak on behalf of the entire city when I convey our sincere condolences to Mama Leah, the Tutu family, the global Anglican community and to everyone one of us in South Africa and abroad who feels this loss of our beloved “Arch” so deeply.’
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said: ‘Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a prophet and priest, a man of words and action – one who embodied the hope and joy that were the foundations of his life.
‘Even in our profound sorrow we give thanks for a life so well lived. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.’
Paying tribute, Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama called Tutu ‘a true humanitarian’. He added: ‘The friendship and the spiritual bond between us was something we cherished.
‘Archbishop Desmond Tutu was entirely dedicated to serving his brothers and sisters for the greater common good. He was a true humanitarian and a committed advocate of human rights.’
Tutu, the retired Archbishop of Cape Town, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s.
In recent years he was hospitalised on several occasions to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.
‘Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning,’ Dr Ramphela Mamphele, acting chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust said in a statement.
She did not give details on the cause of death. In 1984 Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid.
A decade later, he witnessed the ends of that regime and he chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to unearth atrocities committed during those dark days.
Born in October 1931 in the city of Klerksdorp, Desmond Mpilo Tutu, trained as a teacher before studying theology and becoming ordained as a priest in 1960.
He went to study theology at King’s College London in the 1960s before returning to South Africa.
In 1975, he was appointed Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg and was the first black person to hold the post.
From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho , in 1985 he became Bishop of Johannesburg, and then the year after, the Archbishop of Cape Town – the most senior position in southern Africa’s Anglican hierarchy.
After the fall of apartheid, Tutu led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – a body set up to hear witnesses describe past human rights violations.
The commission was seen as a key part of the transition to a fully democratic South Africa.
Controversially, the body was in some cases willing to grant amnesty to perpetrators of crimes if they were willing to testify.
Rest In Peace
