South African Archbishop And Activist Desmond Tutu Dies At 90

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an activist for civil and human rights and leader during the apartheid movement, has died. He was 90. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed his death in a statement on Sunday. 

“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. 

“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.” he continued. “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.”

The Anglican Archbishop had been in poor health for quite some time. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997. Tutu underwent testing in 2013 for persistent infection and had been in and out of the hospital since. He lived with his wife Leah in a retirement community outside of Cape Town. 

Tutu used his voice to speak out against racial inequity during a time of racial segregation against the Black majority. When apartheid ended in the early 1990s, 

Tutu was named the chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 

In 1984, he received the Nobel Peace Prize, one of many accolades he would receive for his human rights work. In 2012, he was awarded a $1 million grant by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for “his lifelong commitment to speaking truth to power.” He received the Templeton Prize the following year. 

Tutu is survived by his wife and their four children. 

His cause of death was not immediately made public.

Tributes began pouring in for Tutu. 

In a statement, former President Barack Obama called him “a mentor, a friend, and a moral compass. The Dalai Lama referred to his bond with Tutu as something he cherished. 

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

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. We pray that Archbishop Tutu’s soul will rest in peace but that his spirit will stand sentry over the future of our nation. pic.twitter.com/ULGzhOOn9E

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) December 26, 2021