South Africans have woken up to the sad news that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died. The news of his passing is trending all over the internet as the nation are passing their messages of condolences. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu was the last surviving receiver of the Noble Peace Prize in South Africa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa expresses, on behalf of all South Africans, his profound sadness at the passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu today, Sunday 26 December 2021. Archbishop Tutu, the last surviving South African laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, passed away in Cape Town at 90. In a statement issued by Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele on behalf of the President, he said:
President Ramaphosa expresses his heartfelt condolences to Mam Leah Tutu, the Tutu family, the board and staff of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, the Elders and Nobel Laureate Group, and the friends, comrades and associates nationally and globally of the iconic spiritual leader, anti-apartheid activist and global human rights campaigner.
President Ramaphosa said: “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.
“Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.
“A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world.
Noble Peace Prize winner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has died
Desmond Tutu was an Anglican cleric who won a Noble peace prize for opposing Apartheid in South Africa. He was born in 1931, and though he wanted to be a medical practitioner, he became a school teacher. He later studied Theology and was ordained a priest in the Anglican church in 1061.
When he was appointed as the secretary of South Africa’s council of churches in 1978, he became the leading spokesperson of black human rights. He won the Noble Price for peace in 1984, and this sent a solid message to then-president PW Botha and his government. He is the author of a lot of books that were published.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu retired from public life in 2010. Ever since then, he has been working with the Elders, a group he formed to promote conflict resolution and problem-solving in the world. He has been survived by his wife, Nomalizo Leah Tutu, four children and a lot of grandchildren and great grand children