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Archbishop Desdmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and one of the icons of the fight against apartheid in South Africa has passed away at the age of 90. The news of his death was confirmed by the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.
As Archbishop of Johannesburg and later of Cape Town, Tutu devoted himself to numerous political initiatives, joining the protests against apartheid, the policy of racial segregation in South Africa that began in the late 1940s and was established from the white minority that was in power.
Together with other great activists like Neslon Mandela, he fought to end segregation, constantly defending the idea of holding only peaceful protests.
Following Mandela’s release in 1990 and his election as the country’s president in 1994, Tutu became chairman of a commission tasked with investigating human rights abuses that took place during apartheid.
Tutu was born on October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, a rural town about 100 miles[160 km]southwest of Johannesburg, to a modest family. He studied to be a teacher, before changing his mind and deciding to become a priest.
In his school years, he lived for the most part abroad, studying theology at the University of London in the mid-1960s. He returned to South Africa, where he had a rapid ecclesiastical career, always showing that there was particular attention to human rights issues.
Charismatic and capable of delivering speeches often described as exciting and fascinating, Tutu quickly became one of apartheid’s biggest opponents. He was one of the most authoritarian figures defending the idea of abolishing segregation in South Africa and one of the main supporters of the idea of imposing international sanctions on South Africa in order to put pressure on its political class to guarantee human rights for the entire population and without distinction.
Tutu always kept a certain distance from the African National Congress, the main party that supported the liberation movement, which after the end of apartheid, led the country for more than two decades. Mandela was a member of this party. Tutu never supported the party’s armed wing and was often critical of its leaders.
Tutu and Mandela
Still, he shared the same vision as Mandela, especially of the need to have a society without discrimination, where every member of it could live with equal rights. Such a commitment, so great for the country’s history, earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
When Mandela was elected president of South Africa, ten years later, he asked Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is a tribunal for gathering and evaluating evidence of crimes committed during segregation by both parties. The hearings of this process were frequently broadcast on television, giving Tutu the opportunity to communicate with millions of people not only in South Africa but also in the rest of the world.
This trial was an important moment in South Africa’s transition towards the end of apartheid, but nevertheless received some criticism regarding the methods used. During his time at the helm of the TRC, Tutu was severely attacked by members of the far right, but also by some members of the ANC. The harsh and painful testimonies of those who had suffered violence during segregation also had a strong impact on Tutu, who never hid his suffering and shock.
In the late 1990s, Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He reduced public engagement and devoted more time to his family, but he did not fail to criticize the ANC and continue to be interested in international politics. In 2015, it launched an initiative to ask world leaders to join a plan to switch to renewable energy within 35 years to reduce the effects of climate change.
Announcing his death, South African President Ramaphosa said: “The death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter in the mourning of our nation to a prominent generation of South Africans who inherited and left behind a state of liberated ”.
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