Archbishop Tutu dies in South Africa apartheid campaign at 90

By Nqobile Dludla and James Macharia Chege

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and veteran of South Africa’s white minority rule, died on Sunday at the age of 90, the presidency said.

In 1984, the key date in the life of South African clergyman and activist Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for non-violence against apartheid. A decade later, he witnessed the end of that regime and chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to shed light on the atrocities committed in those dark days.

Blacks and whites took the nation’s conscience as a sharp pipe, a lasting witness to the spirit of their faith and reconciliation in a divided nation.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and has been hospitalized several times in recent years to treat cancer-related infections.

“The death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Emeritus, is another part of the mourning for a generation of great South Africans who left our nation liberated in South Africa,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“Desmond Tutu was an unparalleled patriot.”

The presidency did not provide details on the cause of death.

Tutu preached against the tyranny of the white minority, but even after its end he never questioned the struggle for a more just South Africa, holding the black political elite to account for as many struggles as white Africans.

In his later years, he regretted that the dream of the “Rainbow Nation” had not yet been fulfilled.

“Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died quietly at the Cape Town Oasis Frail Care Center this morning,” said Dr. Ramphela Mamphele, acting president of the Desmond Tutu IP Trust Archbishop and coordinator of the Archbishop’s Office. In statements made on behalf of the Tutu family.

A weak-looking pipe was seen in October at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, a safe haven for anti-apartheid activists enclosed in a wheelhouse in his former parish, in a special thanksgiving service to celebrate his 90th birthday.

Called the “moral compass of the nation,” his courage in defending social justice, at all costs, always shone — and not just in apartheid. He spoke to his first allies in the African National Congress party, who often promised to eradicate poverty and inequality.

With a height of five feet and five inches (1.68 meters) and infectious laughter, Tutu helped spark popular campaigns to fight the end of apartheid through economic and cultural boycotts.

Speaking and constantly traveling through the 1980s, he became the face of the anti-apartheid movement abroad while many ANC rebel leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, were behind the scenes.

PUBLIC CATHEDRAL

Tributes came from all over the world.

Canterbury Archbishop Justin Welby greeted Tutu on Twitter (NYSE), saying he was “a prophet and a priest, a man of words and action,” the brilliant British billionaire Richard Branson said in a blog post: The world has lost a giant. He was a brave leader, a mischievous enjoyer, a deep thinker and a dear friend. ‘

Tutu led numerous marches and campaigns to end apartheid from the steps in front of St. George, known as the “People’s Cathedral” and a powerful symbol of democracy.

Mandela’s longtime friend, and the couple lived on the same street in the South African town of Soweto for a time, Vilakazi Street was the only one in the world to receive two Nobel Peace Prize winners.

“His most distinctive trait is his willingness to take unfamiliar attitudes without fear,” Mandela once said of Tutu. “This independence of mind is essential for a prosperous democracy.”

At St. George’s Boxing Day service, only a few congregations were informed of Tutu’s death in a brief tribute to the highly reverend Michael Weeder, who spoke from the archbishop’s former pulpit, saying it was “a point once celebrated.” authority ”before asking the parishioners to bow their heads in silence.

“It’s sad, but it was old and it served his country very well and it’s a very painful loss in a time of crisis in the country and in the world,” said Ntokozo Mjiyako, a 39-year-old lawyer. early morning walk to Cape Town.