South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu who helped end apartheid in South Africa has died aged 90. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was a veteran of South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed, on behalf of all South Africans, his profound sadness at the Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu.
Archbishop Tutu, the last surviving South African laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, passed away today 26th December 2021 in Cape Town at the age of 90.President Ramaphosa described the late Archbishop Tutu as “the iconic spiritual leader, anti-apartheid activist and global human rights campaigner.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa: “Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal”
President 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.
“Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.”
He added that the late clergy was “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.
“As Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he articulated the universal outrage at the ravages of apartheid and touchingly and profoundly demonstrated the depth of meaning of ubuntu, reconciliation and forgiveness.”
Archbishop of Canterbury: Archbishop Tutu was a man of extraordinary personal courage and bravery
The Most Rev Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury said Archbishop Tutu’s “love transformed the lives of politicians and priests, township dwellers and world leaders. The world is different because of this man.”
He added that the late clergy “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. He was a man of extraordinary personal courage and bravery: when the police burst into Capetown Cathedral, he defied them by dancing down the aisle.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury said Archbishop Tutu’s “vision and bravery were allied with a canny political sense and wisdom, enabling him to be a healer and apostle of peace while so many still saw wounds and war.”
“He was a great warrior for justice who never stopped fighting – whether it was for those in his own country, for inclusivity in the South African Constitution, or for those suffering injustice around the world,” the Archbishop of Canterbury said.