IS died Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop among the main opponents of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1984. Tutu had just turned 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 and in support of protests against apartheid, the policy of racial segregation in place in South Africa since the late 1940s and established by the ruling white minority. Along with other great activists such as Nelson Mandela, he fought for an end to segregation by advocating the need to keep the protests peaceful. After Mandela’s release in 1990 and his election as president in 1994, Tutu became chairman of a commission charged with investigating cases of human rights violations that occurred during apartheid.
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Tutu was born on 7 October 1931 in Klerksdorp, a rural town about 160 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg into a family of modest conditions. He studied to become a teacher, before changing his mind and deciding to become a priest.
During his formative years he lived abroad extensively, studying theology at the University of London in the mid-1960s. He returned to South Africa where he had a rapid ecclesiastical career, immediately showing that he had a particular attention to the issue of human rights. Charismatic and able to deliver speeches often described as thrilling and enthralling, Tutu quickly became one of apartheid’s greatest opponents.
As archbishop, Tutu became one of the most authoritative figures in advocating the need to abolish segregation. Strongly opposed by the National Party, which led the country by supporting the importance of apartheid, Tutu was among the most staunch supporters of international sanctions against South Africa to put pressure on the government to guarantee human rights for all the population and without distinction.
In doing so, Tutu always kept a certain distance from the African National Congress (ANC), the main party supporting the liberation movement and which after the end of apartheid would become the ruling party for more than 20 years and of which Mandela was also a member. . Tutu never supported the party’s armed wing and was often critical of its leaders. However, he shared Mandela’s vision of the need to have a society without discrimination, in which everyone could live with equal rights. His commitment earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
When ten years later Mandela became president of South Africa, he asked Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a tribunal for collecting and evaluating testimony on crimes committed during segregation by both sides. The hearings were often broadcast on television, giving Tutu the ability to reach millions of people not only in South Africa, but also in the rest of the world.
The court was an important moment in South Africa’s transition to the end of apartheid, but received some criticism for the methods employed. During his time at the head of the TRC, Tutu was severely attacked by far-right members of the white minority, but also by some members of the ANC. The often very harsh and crude testimonies of those who had suffered violence during segregation also had a strong impact on Tutu, who never hid his suffering and consternation.
In the late 1990s, Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He reduced public commitments and devoted himself more diligently to his family, but he did not fail to criticize the ANC and to continue to be interested in international politics. In 2015 he launched an initiative to ask presidents and heads of governments around the world to join a plan to switch to renewable energy sources within 35 years to reduce the effects of climate change.
Commenting on his death, South African President Ramaphosa said: “The death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu marks another chapter in our nation’s mourning and farewell to a generation of incredible South Africans who bequeathed a South Africa to us. free”.
