Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died aged 90. The Noble Peace prize winner was a prominent figure in South Africa’s battle against apartheid.
His passing was announced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“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,” Ramaphosa said.
Tutu has been described as the moral conscience of South Africa. He passed away in Cape Town, he had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer for several years, but no cause of death has been given.
Born in Klerksdorp, a small farming village 160km south east of Johannesburg he trained as a teacher before becoming an Anglican priest. In the mid 1970’s he became a prominent figure speaking out against South Africa’s racial segregation, and became a household name around the world.
In 1984 he was award the Nobel Peace Prize, which intensified global attention on the racism occurring in South Africa.
In 1986 he was appointed to the position of Archbishop of Cape Town. He is credited with the creating the phrase “rainbow nation” which described the vision of a society free of discrimination and prejudice.
After Nelson Mandela became President after the countries first free elections in 1994, Tutu was appointed to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that looked into human rights abuses during the apartheid period.
In recent years he has been a prominent voice against discrimination on the basis of sexuality, arguing that African nations should stop criminalising homosexuality.
In a 2013 event Desmond Tutu said he’d refuse to go to heaven if he discovered it was homophobic.
“I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” Archbishop Tutu said.
“I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.”
Archbishop Tutu is survived by his wife Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, his children and many grandchildren. His daughter Mpho Tutu is in a same-sex marriage and a prominent human rights campaigner.
OIP Staff
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