South African Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday. He was 90 years old.
An unrelenting enemy of apartheid – South Africa's brutal regime of repression against the black majority – Tutu acted nonviolently, though non-violently, to its downfall.
The spirited, blunt-spoken clergyman used his pulpit as first Black Bishop of Johannesburg and later Archbishop of Cape Town, as well as frequent public meetings to bolster public opinion against racial inequality at home and globally. Exhibited.
"The death of Tutu on Sunday is another chapter in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have given us a free South Africa," Ramaphosa said in a statement.
"From the pavement of resistance in South Africa to the world's great churches and places of worship, and the iconic setting of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, Ark has distinguished itself as a non-sectarian, inclusive champion of universal human rights."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Trust said in a statement on Sunday that Tutu died peacefully at the Oasis Friel Care Center in Cape Town.
Tutu had been hospitalized several times since 2015 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997.
"Usually they turn their own misfortune into a teaching opportunity to raise awareness and ease the suffering of others," the Tutu Trust statement said. "He wanted the world to know he had prostate cancer, and the sooner it was detected, the better the chances of managing it."
In recent years he and his wife, Leah, lived in a retirement community outside Cape Town.
During the 1980s – when South Africa was in the grip of anti-apartheid violence and a state of emergency under widespread police and military powers – Tutu was one of the most prominent blacks able to speak out against abuses.
A lively wit softened Tutu's harsh messages and heated up otherwise serious protests, funerals and marches. Small, nimble, determined, he was a formidable force, and apartheid leaders learned not to belittle his shrewd talent for quoting appropriate scriptures to use appropriate support for change.
The 1984 Nobel Peace Prize highlighted his stature as one of the world's most effective champions of human rights, a responsibility he took seriously throughout his life.
With the end of apartheid and South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, Tutu celebrated the country's multi-racial society, calling it a "rainbow nation", a phrase that captured the dominant optimism of the time.
Nicknamed "The Ark," Tutu had little to do with a sense of humour, but went on to become a legendary figure in his country's history, on par with Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, a prisoner during the white rule who lived in South Africa. became the first black president of Tutu and Mandela shared a commitment to building a better, more equal South Africa.
In 1990, after 27 years in prison, Mandela spent his first night of freedom at Tutu's residence in Cape Town. Later, Mandela called Tutu "the archbishop of the people".
Upon becoming president in 1994, Mandela appointed Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which exposed the abuses of the apartheid system.
Tutu campaigned internationally for human rights, especially LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.
Launching a campaign for LGBT rights in Cape Town in 2013, he said, "I would not worship a god who is homophobic and that's how deeply I feel about it." "I'd refuse to go to a homosexuality's paradise. No, I'd say, 'Sorry, I'd love to go to another place.'"
Tutu said he was "as passionate about this campaign (for LGBT rights) as I was about apartheid. For me, it's on that level." He was one of the most prominent religious leaders to advocate for LGBT rights. Tutu's very public stance for LGBT rights has put her at odds with many in South Africa and across the continent, as well as within the Anglican Church.
South Africa, Tutu said, was a "rainbow" nation of promises of racial reconciliation and equality, even though he became disillusioned with the African National Congress, the anti-apartheid movement that became the ruling party in the 1994 elections. His outspoken remarks long after apartheid sometimes angered partisans who accused him of being biased or out of touch.
Tutu was particularly annoyed by the South African government's denial of a visa to the Dalai Lama, preventing the Tibetan spiritual leader from attending Tutu's 80th birthday celebrations, as well as at a planned gathering of Nobel laureates in Cape Town. prevented from participating. South Africa has rejected Tutu's allegations that it is succumbing to pressure from a major trading partner, China.
In early 2016, Tutu defended the reconciliation policy that ended white minority rule amid growing frustration among some South Africans who felt they had not lost the economic opportunities and other benefits expected since apartheid ended. have seen. Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which investigated atrocities under apartheid and granted amnesty to some criminals, but some believe that more former white officers should have been prosecuted.
Desmond Ampilo Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, west of Johannesburg, on October 7, 1931, and became a teacher before entering St Peter's Theological College in Rosenville in 1958 to train as a priest. He was ordained in 1961 and became pastor at Fort Hare University six years later. Lesotho and Britain moved to the small southern African state, with Tutu returning home in 1975. He became Bishop of Lesotho, President of the Council of South African Churches and the first Black Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg in 1985 and then, in 1986, the first Black Archbishop of Cape Town. He ordained female priests and promoted gay priests.
Tutu was arrested in 1980 for participating in a protest and later his passport was confiscated for the first time. He took it back for visits to the United States and Europe, where he held talks with the UN Secretary General, the Pope, and other church leaders.
Tutu called for international sanctions against South Africa and talks to end the conflict.
Tutu often held funeral services after the massacres that marked the 1990–1994 negotiating period. He asked the crowd against black-on-black political violence, "Why are we doing this to us?" In a powerful moment, Tutu quelled the anger of thousands of mourners at a township soccer stadium following the Boiptong massacre in 1992, leading the crowd to chants declaring their love for God and themselves.
After Mandela became president in 1994, he asked Tutu to head the Truth Commission to Promote Racial Reconciliation. The panel heard harsh testimony about torture, murders, and other atrocities during apartheid. After hearing something, Tutu wept bitterly.
"Without forgiveness, there is no future," he said at the time. The Commission's 1998 report placed most of the blame on the forces of apartheid, but also found the African National Congress guilty of human rights violations. Reprimanding Tutu, the ANC sued to block the release of the document. "I didn't struggle to remove a group of people who thought they were the gods of tin, to replace them with others who are tempted to think they are," Tutu said.
In July 2015, Tutu renewed his 1955 wedding vows with wife Leah. Four children of Tutus and other relatives surround the elderly couple at a church function. Tutu told the church, "You can see that we followed the biblical command: we multiply and we are fruitful." "But we all want to say thank you here... We knew that without you we are nothing."