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Desmond Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace winner, dies at 90
AP
Dec. 26, 2021 9:34 am
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu, right, with his wife Leah, left, attends a church service in St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021, as Tutu celebrates his 90th birthday. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht, File)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon, an uncompromising foe of the country's past racist policy of apartheid and a modern-day activist for racial justice and LGBT rights, died Sunday at 90. South Africans, world leaders and people around the globe mourned the death of the man viewed as the country's moral conscience.
Tutu worked passionately, tirelessly and non-violently to tear down apartheid — South Africa’s brutal, decades-long regime of oppression against its Black majority that only ended in 1994.
The buoyant, blunt-spoken clergyman used his pulpit as the first Black bishop of Johannesburg and later the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town as well as frequent public demonstrations to galvanize public opinion against racial inequity, both at home and globally.
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Nicknamed “the Arch,” Tutu was diminutive, with an impish sense of humor, but became a towering figure in his nation’s history, comparable to fellow Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, a prisoner during white rule who became South Africa’s first Black president. Tutu and Mandela shared a commitment to building a better, more equal South Africa.
Upon becoming president in 1994, Mandela appointed Tutu to be chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which uncovered the abuses of the apartheid system.
Tutu's death on Sunday “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,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
“From the pavements of resistance in South Africa to the pulpits of the world’s great cathedrals and places of worship, and the prestigious setting of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Arch distinguished himself as a non-sectarian, inclusive champion of universal human rights.”
Tutu died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Center in Cape Town, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Trust said Sunday. He had been hospitalized several times since 2015 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997.
“Typically he turned his own misfortune into a teaching opportunity to raise awareness and reduce the suffering of others,” said the Tutu trust. “He wanted the world to know that he had prostate cancer, and that the sooner it is detected the better the chance of managing it.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was a mentor, a friend, and a moral compass for me and so many others. A universal spirit, Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere. pic.twitter.com/qiiwtw8a5B
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 26, 2021
In recent years he and his wife, Leah, lived in a retirement community outside Cape Town.
“His legacy is moral strength, moral courage and clarity," Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba said in a video statement. "He felt with the people. In public and alone, he cried because he felt people’s pain. And he laughed — no, not just laughed, he cackled with delight — when he shared their joy.”
A seven-day mourning period is planned in Cape Town before Tutu's burial, including a two-day lying in state, an ecumenical service and an Anglican requiem mass at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, according to church officials. Cape Town's landmark Table Mountain will be lit in purple, the color of the robes Tutu wore as archbishop.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among the world leaders paying tribute to Tutu. “He was a critical figure in the fight against apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa — and will be remembered for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humor.”
Throughout the 1980s — when South Africa was gripped by anti-apartheid violence and a state of emergency giving police and the military sweeping powers — Tutu was one of the most prominent Black leaders able to speak out against abuses.
A lively wit lightened Tutu’s hard-hitting messages and warmed otherwise grim protests, funerals and marches. Short, plucky, tenacious, he was a formidable force, and apartheid leaders learned not to discount his canny talent for quoting apt scriptures to harness righteous support for change.
The Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 highlighted his stature as one of the world’s most effective champions for human rights, a responsibility he took seriously for the rest of 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 heady optimism of the moment.
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 people’s archbishop.”
Tutu also campaigned internationally for human rights, especially LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.
“I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this,” he said in 2013, launching a campaign for LGBT rights in Cape Town. “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say, ‘Sorry, I would much rather go to the other place.’”
Tutu said he was “as passionate about this campaign (for LGBT rights) as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level.” He was one of the most prominent religious leaders to advocate LGBT rights.
Tutu’s very public stance for LGBT rights put him 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 promise for racial reconciliation and equality, even though he grew disillusioned with the African National Congress, the anti-apartheid movement that became the ruling party in 1994 elections. His outspoken remarks long after apartheid sometimes angered partisans who accused him of being biased or out of touch.
Tutu was particularly incensed by the South African government’s refusal to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama, preventing the Tibetan spiritual leader from attending Tutu’s 80th birthday celebration as well as a planned gathering of Nobel laureates in Cape Town. South Africa rejected Tutu’s accusations that it was bowing to pressure from China, a major trading partner.
Early in 2016, Tutu defended the reconciliation policy that ended white minority rule amid increasing frustration among some South Africans who felt they had not seen the expected economic opportunities and other benefits since apartheid ended. Tutu had chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated atrocities under apartheid and granted amnesty to some perpetrators, but some people believe more former white officials should have been prosecuted.
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born Oct. 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp, west of Johannesburg, and became a teacher before entering St. Peter’s Theological College in Rosetenville in 1958 for training as a priest. He was ordained in 1961 and six years later became chaplain at the University of Fort Hare.
Moves to the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho and to Britain followed, with Tutu returning home in 1975. He became bishop of Lesotho, chairman of the South African Council of Churches and, in 1985 the first Black Anglican bishop of Johannesburg and then in 1986, the first Black archbishop of Cape Town. He ordained women priests and promoted gay priests.
Tutu was arrested in 1980 for taking part in a protest and later had his passport confiscated for the first time. He got it back for trips to the United States and Europe, where he held talks with the U.N. secretary-general, the pope and other church leaders.
Tutu called for international sanctions against South Africa and talks to end the conflict.
Tutu often conducted funeral services after the massacres that marked the negotiating period of 1990-1994. He railed against black-on-black political violence, asking crowds, “Why are we doing this to ourselves?” In one powerful moment, Tutu defused the rage of thousands of mourners in a township soccer stadium after the Boipatong massacre of 42 people in 1992, leading the crowd in chants proclaiming their love of God and themselves.
As head of the truth commission to promote racial reconciliation, Tutu and his panel listened to harrowing testimony about torture, killings and other atrocities during apartheid. At some hearings, Tutu wept openly.
“Without forgiveness, there is no future,” he said at the time.
The commission’s 1998 report lay most of the blame on the forces of apartheid, but also found the African National Congress guilty of human rights violations. The ANC sued to block the document’s release, earning a rebuke from Tutu. “I didn’t struggle in order to remove one set of those who thought they were tin gods 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. The Tutus’ four children and other relatives surrounded the elderly couple in a church ceremony.
“You can see that we followed the biblical injunction: We multiplied and we’re fruitful,” Tutu told the congregation. “But all of us here want to say thank you ... We knew that without you, we are nothing.”
Tutu is survived by his wife of 66 years and their four children.
Asked once how he wanted to be remembered, he told The Associated Press: “He loved. He laughed. He cried. He was forgiven. He forgave. Greatly privileged.”
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AP journalist Christopher Torchia contributed to this report.
FILE- Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu celebrates his 78th birthday, in Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu smiles as he celebrates his 86th birthday in Cape Town South Africa, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Mark Wessels, File)
FILE — South African President F.W. de Klerk left shakes hands with Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Johannesburg, Sept. 14, 1991. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/John Parkin, File)
FILE — Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa speaks to a crowd at New York's City Hall on May 28, 1986, to drum up support for a rally on June 14 for sanctions against South Africa and apartheid. South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, it was announced on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression again the Black majority, Tutu worked tirelessly, but non-violently, for its downfall. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, right, leads a prayer service in memory of former South African president Nelson Mandela, at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, Dec. 6, 2013. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, March 21, 2003. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, center, breaks into dance after renewing his wedding vows to his wife of 60 years, Leah, right, during a service in Soweto, Johannesburg, Aug. 2015. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo, File)
FILE — President Ronald Reagan, left, meets with South African Bishop Desmond Tutu at the White House, Friday, Dec. 7, 1984, Washington, D.C. Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmod Tutu, center background, attends his 75th birthday celebrations with former South African President Nelson Mandela, left, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/ Rebecca Hearfield, File)
FILE — Britain's Prince Harry, left, looks on as South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu waves at people during his visit to The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa Monday, Nov. 30, 2015, Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)
FILE — Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu addresses new University of Oklahoma graduates, at a ceremony at the university after he received a honorary degree, Tuesday April 25, 2000 in Norman, Okla. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter, File)
FILE — South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu speaks at the American Center, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
FILE — Nobel Peace Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu reacts during a press conference in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, July 22, 2010. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo, File)
FILE — Archbishop Desmond Tutu stands during his enthronement service at St. Georges Cathedral, in Cape Town, South Africa, Sept. 7, 1986. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Greg English, File)
FILE — South African Bishop Desmond Tutu waves during a speech against apartheid, to a crowd of demonstrators, on Jan. 8, 1986, outside the South African Embassy in Washington. South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, it was announced on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression again the Black majority, Tutu worked tirelessly, but non-violently, for its downfall. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)
FILE — Truth Commission chairman and Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, right, shakes hands with Former South African President P.W. Botha, left, Thursday, Nov. 21 1996 at the Wilderness, South Africa. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Benny Gool, File)
FILE — South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu makes an address at Westminster Abbey in London during the memorial service for the former South African President Nelson Mandela, Monday March 3, 2014. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (John Stillwell, Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE — Britain't Queen Elizabeth II emerges from St. George's Cathedral with Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the end of a service to commemorate Human Rights Day, in Cape Town on Tuesday, March 21, 1995. South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, it was announced on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression again the Black majority, Tutu worked tirelessly, but non-violently, for its downfall. (AP Photo/John Moore, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu waves as he exits his home in Cape Town, South Africa Monday May 6, 2019. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo, File).
FILE — South African Bishop Desmond Tutu receives the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Prize from Coretta Scott King, left, and Christine King Farris, King's sister, center, during an ecumenical service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King was pastor in Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 20, 1986. Tutu's daughter Mpho, right, looks on during the ceremony. Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo, File)
FILE — Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa displays an "End Apartheid" T-shirt at New York's City Hall, May 27, 1986. South Africa's president says Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, it was announced on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression again the Black majority, Tutu worked tirelessly, but non-violently, for its downfall. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan, File)
FILE — South African Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu addresses a news conference at the World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, South Africa, Wednesday Sept. 5, 2001. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Obed Zilwa, File)
FILE — President Barack Obama presents a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Desmond Tutu, widely regarded as "South Africa's moral conscience," who was a leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa., Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE — Pope John Paul II and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu during an audience the pontiff granted to Southern African Catholic Bishops and South African Council of Churches delegations, at the Vatican City May 27, 1980. Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu takes part in a Mass to celebrate four decades of episcopal ministry at a special thanksgiving Mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg, July 20, 2016. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)
FILE — Retiring Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, right, greets President Nelson Mandela at a service in Cape Town, Sunday June 23, 1996 held to celebrate the end of Tutu's tenure as leader of the Anglican Church in South Africa. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Guy Tillim, File)
FILE — Former Truth And Reconciliation Commissioner (TRC) Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu gestures, during a public debate on the legacy of the TRC. in Cape Town, South Africa, April, 20, 2006. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Obed Zilwa, File)
FILE — Archbishop Desmond Tutu, right, leading the way for Nelson and Winnie Mandela into the garden at his Cape Town residence Monday, Feb. 12, 1990. Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Udo Weitz, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, left, holds a microphone as Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama gestures, as they interact with children at the Tibetan Children's Village School in Dharmsala, India, Thursday, April 23, 2015. Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia, File)
FILE — South African Bishop Desmond Tutu gestures during remarks denouncing his country's apartheid policy of racial separation in New Orleans, Sept. 7, 1982. Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday Dec. 26, 2021. He was 90. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell, File)
FILE — Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, centre, jogs along a whites only beach, at the Strand, Saturday Sept. 30, 1989 with a crowd of supporters near Cape Town, as church organizations continued their campaign of defiance against Apartheid laws. South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, it was announced on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression again the Black majority, Tutu worked tirelessly, but non-violently, for its downfall. (AP Photo/Adil Bradlow, File)
FILE — US President Barack Obama presents a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Desmond Tutu, widely regarded as "South Africa's moral conscience," who was a leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa., Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90, it was announced on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. An uncompromising foe of apartheid, South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression again the Black majority, Tutu worked tirelessly, but non-violently, for its downfall. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)