The world is mourning the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Desmond Tutu who was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, west of Johannesburg died at the age of 90 on 26th December 2021.
Following the end of his theology studies in the United Kingdom, he returned to South Africa to be named Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg. In his sermons, he spoke against the discrimination of the apartheid movement and the discriminatory system to his majorly white congregation while boldly supporting an international economic boycott of South Africa over apartheid.
In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1996, Tutu retired from the church and became fully engaged in the Truth Reconciliation Commission while still being a significant member of the Anglican church in the country and around the world. However, with time, he fell out with the church over his pro-gay views which the Anglican church saw as unchristian.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be remembered for numerous acts of humanity, his passionate conviction and his sincerity of purpose with which he championed many causes while he lived. He was a peacemaker who also encouraged all to be peacemakers as those given a wonderful share in the Lord’s ministry of reconciliation.
He equally cautioned against oppression as it dehumanizes both the oppressor and the oppressed.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his death early on Sunday morning, called it another chapter of bereavement in South Africa’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans. He called Tutu one of the country’s best-known figures at home and abroad.
Former President Barrack Obama of the United States has also described him as a mentor and a moral compass.
