Sunday, December 26th, 2021
“Helped Liberate South Africa”
Anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu is dead
Desmond Tutu was considered an indomitable moral authority. As one of the world’s best-known spokesmen against South Africa’s apartheid, he was once awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The belligerent man of God died at the age of 90.
The world-famous South African human rights activist and anti-apartheid fighter Desmond Tutu is dead. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former archbishop died at the age of 90, according to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in a statement. As the most prominent clergyman, he was the moral conscience of the country for decades, for which he once coined the term “rainbow nation” after the overcoming of apartheid.
Whether racial discrimination or other injustice: Tutu always found clear words. As a belligerent Anglican man of God, he became the voice of the resistance and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his non-violent work against the apartheid regime. Ramaphosa wrote that he was a pragmatic and principled person.
One of Tutu’s last public appearances: In mid-September 2019, Prince Harry introduced him to his wife Meghan and son Archie on a trip to Africa.
(Photo: picture alliance / ALPR / AdMedia)
Born on October 7, 1931 in the mining town of Klerksdorp near Johannesburg, Tutu was one of the advocates of reconciliation between black and white after the end of apartheid. In 1996 he took over the chairmanship of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which dealt with the crimes of the apartheid era. Although he felt connected to the current governing African National Congress (ANC) of his friend Nelson Mandela in the fight against apartheid, he later criticized the ANC for grievances or undesirable developments. He withdrew more and more from the public after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Although he increasingly had to go to the hospital for treatment, he still spoke up loudly about events that appeared to him to be unfair. He leaves behind his wife Leah and four children. He had one of his last public appearances in mid-September 2019 when the British Prince Harry introduced him to his small family on a trip to Africa, and the already very frail tutu breathed a kiss on little Archie’s forehead.