Post by Admin on Dec 26, 2021 22:21:01 GMT
Desmond Tutu rose to prominence as a churchman who berated minority white rule in South Africa and did not spare criticism for the post-apartheid African National Congress (ANC) rulers for failing to deliver for poor Black people.
But 90-year-old Tutu, who died on Sunday in Cape Town after a long battle with prostate cancer and infections, pitched his rebukes well beyond the borders of South Africa, often softening the blows with humour and warmth.
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull looks back at Desmond Tutu's life.
(Reuters) -"Like falling in love" is how Archbishop Desmond Tutu described voting in South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, a remark that captured both his puckish humour and his profound emotions after decades fighting apartheid.
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, the Nobel Peace laureate whose moral might permeated South African society during apartheid's darkest hours and into the unchartered territory of new democracy, died on Sunday. He was 90.
The outspoken Tutu was considered the nation's conscience by both Black and white, an enduring testament to his faith and spirit of reconciliation in a divided nation.
He preached against the tyranny of white minority and even after its end, he never wavered in his fight for a fairer South Africa, calling the black political elite to account with as much feistiness as he had the white Afrikaners.
In his final years, he regretted that his dream of a "Rainbow Nation" had not yet come true.
On the global stage, the human rights activist spoke out across a range of topics, from Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to gay rights, climate change and assisted death - issues that cemented Tutu's broad appeal.
Tutu "was a prophet and priest, a man of words and action", said the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the symbolic head of Tutu's Anglican Communion. British billionaire Richard Branson called him "a brave leader, a mischievous delight, a profound thinker, and a dear friend."
Just five feet five inches (1.7 metres) tall and with an infectious giggle, Tutu was a moral giant who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his non-violent struggle against apartheid.
He used his high-profile role in the Anglican Church to highlight the plight of black South Africans.