In 1978 Tutu accepted an appointment as the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches and became a leading spokesperson for the rights of Black South Africans. [268] As the ANC-Inkatha violence spread from kwaZulu into the Transvaal, Tutu toured affected townships in Witwatersrand,[269] later meeting with victims of the Sebokeng and Boipatong massacres. [223] Given that most senior anti-apartheid activists were imprisoned, Mandela referred to Tutu as "public enemy number one for the powers that be". [358], During the 2008 Tibetan unrest, Tutu marched in a pro-Tibet demonstration in San Francisco; there, he called on heads of states to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing "for the sake of the beautiful people of Tibet". [299] He visited Belfast in 1998 and again in 2001. [199] Tutu was enthroned as the sixth Bishop of Johannesburg in St Mary's Cathedral in February 1985. [419] On Fridays, he fasted until supper. Although warning the National Party government that anger at apartheid would lead to racial violence, as an activist he stressed non-violent protest and foreign economic pressure to bring about universal suffrage. Desmond Tutu", "Grahamstown scientist's new fossil scoop", "The leadership role of emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the social development of the South African society", The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation SA, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Biography and Interview, Anglican Church of Southern Africa titles, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Desmond_Tutu&oldid=1142656895. Fourteen laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2022, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. [301] In June 2000, the Cape Town-based Desmond Tutu Peace Centre was launched, which in 2003 launched an Emerging Leadership Program. [420], Tutu was a committed Christian from boyhood. [174] In September 1982 Tutu addressed the Triennial Convention of the Episcopal Church in New Orleans before traveling to Kentucky to see his daughter Naomi, who lived there with her American husband. [450] Du Boulay, however, noted that Tutu was "most at home" with the UDF umbrella organisation,[451] and that his views on a multi-racial alliance against apartheid placed him closer to the approach of the ANC and UDF than the blacks-only approach favoured by the PAC and Black Consciousness groups like AZAPO. [96], In January 1970, Tutu left the seminary for a teaching post at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS) in Roma, Lesotho. [440] He, for instance, accepted that violence had been necessary to stop Nazism. [83] At Fedsem, Tutu was employed teaching doctrine, the Old Testament, and Greek;[84] Leah became its library assistant. LONDON -- South Africa's Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, an anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died on Sunday. "[56] During his years at the college, there had been an intensification in anti-apartheid activism as well as a crackdown against it, including the Sharpeville massacre of 1960. [299] Three years later, he gave a televised service from Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral, calling for negotiations between all factions. I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. For more than a century, these academic institutions have worked independently to select Nobel Prize laureates. [129] Although Tutu did not want the position, he was elected to it in March 1976 and reluctantly accepted. Also in 1986, he became president of the All Africa Conference of Churches, resulting in further tours of the continent. You are defending what is fundamentally indefensible, because it is evil. [370] In 2014, he came out in support of legalised assisted dying,[371][372] revealing that he wanted that option open to him. [125] In May 1976, he wrote to Prime Minister B. J. Vorster, warning that if the government maintained apartheid then the country would erupt in racial violence. [332] After the 1998 Lambeth Conference of bishops reaffirmed the church's opposition to same-sex sexual acts, Tutu stated that he was "ashamed to be an Anglican. [183] Although he remained close with prominent white liberals like Helen Suzman,[184] his angry anti-government rhetoric also alienated many white liberals like Alan Paton and Bill Burnett, who believed that apartheid could be gradually reformed away. [175] Tutu gained a popular following in the US, where he was often compared to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., although white conservatives like Pat Buchanan and Jerry Falwell lambasted him as an alleged communist sympathiser.[176]. [130] This decision upset some of his congregation, who felt that he had used their parish as a stepping stone to advance his career. [317], Mandela named Tutu as the chair of the TRC, with Boraine as his deputy. [428] He compared the apartheid ethos of South Africa's National Party to the ideas of the Nazi Party, and drew comparisons between apartheid policy and the Holocaust. [40], In 1954, Tutu began teaching English at Madibane High School; the following year, he transferred to the Krugersdorp High School, where he taught English and history. [418] His favourite foods included samosas, marshmallows, fat cakes, and Yogi Sip. [367] He criticised the memorials held for Mandela, stating that they gave too much prominence to the ANC and marginalised Afrikaners. Before the speech, Desmond Tutu and his relatives and colleagues delivered a traditional song. read more . ", Maluleke, Tinyiko. Fourteen laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2022, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. [191] The Nobel Prize selection committee had wanted to recognise a South African and thought Tutu would be a less controversial choice than Mandela or Mangosuthu Buthelezi. [115] Tutu was officially installed as dean in August 1975. They're just ordinary people who are scared. Sat. [190] Tutu later called Reagan "a racist pure and simple". Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. [346] He also criticised the UK's introduction of measures to detain terrorist subjects for 28 days without trial. [32] In 1947, Tutu contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalised in Rietfontein for 18 months, during which he was regularly visited by Huddleston. [152] Under Tutu's tenure, it was revealed that one of the SACC's divisional directors had been stealing funds. [484] After the transition to universal suffrage, Tutu's criticism of presidents Mbeki and Zuma brought objections from their supporters; in 2006, Zuma's personal advisor Elias Khumalo claimed that it was a double standard that Tutu could "accept the apology from the apartheid government that committed unspeakable atrocities against millions of South Africans", yet "cannot find it in his heart to accept the apology" from Zuma. Dec 26, 20211:09 PM. [77] During this period, the family moved to Bletchingley in Surrey, where Tutu worked as the assistant curate of St Mary's Church. [248], In May 1988, the government launched a covert campaign against Tutu, organised in part by the Stratkom wing of the State Security Council. Nonviolent Peace Prize. "[423], On 2 July 1955, Tutu married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, a teacher whom he had met while at college. Desmond Tutu talks about what makes a good leader, how the Nobel Peace Prize helped the struggle against apartheid in South Africa (08:15), and the key to overcoming present and future conflicts (21:13). [102] In March 1972, he returned to Britain. In the 1970s, Tutu became an advocate of both black theology and African theology, seeking ways to fuse the two schools of Christian theological thought. [409] Gish noted that "Tutu's voice and manner could light up an audience; he never sounded puritanical or humourless". [453], When pressed to describe his ideological position, Tutu described himself as a socialist. [380][381] South African president Cyril Ramaphosa described Tutu's death as "another chapter of bereavement in our nation's farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa. It is immoral. "The Liberating Humour of Desmond Tutu. Watch: The BBC's Nomsa Maseko looks back at the life and legacy of Desmond Tutu Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace prize laureate who helped end apartheid in South Africa, has died aged 90. NobelPrize.org. [324] While listening to the testimony of victims, Tutu was sometimes overwhelmed by emotion and cried during the hearings. Following apartheid's fall, Tutu campaigned for gay rights and spoke out on a wide range of subjects, among them his criticism of South African presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, his opposition to the Iraq War, and describing Israel's treatment of Palestinians as apartheid. After the ceremony, Tutu held an open-air Eucharist for 10,000 people at the Cape Showgrounds in Goodwood, where he invited Albertina Sisulu and Allan Boesak to give political speeches. [377] In September, Tutu asked Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi to halt the army's persecution of the country's Muslim Rohingya minority. Though he wanted a medical career, Tutu was unable to afford training and instead became a schoolteacher in 1955. [314] Alex Boraine helped Mandela's government to draw up legislation for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was passed by parliament in July 1995. In July 2007, Tutu was declared Chair of The Elders, a group of world leaders put together to contribute their wisdom, kindness, leadership, and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems. Let us say to you nicely: you have already lost! [469] In the latter country, he was able to rise to prominence as a South African anti-apartheid activist becauseunlike Mandela and other members of the ANChe had no links to the South African Communist Party and thus was more acceptable to Americans amid the Cold War anti-communist sentiment of the period. He resigned his post in 1957. [224], After Philip Russell announced his retirement as the Archbishop of Cape Town,[225] in February 1986 the Black Solidarity Group formed a plan to get Tutu appointed as his replacement. [145], Allen stated that the theme running through Tutu's campaigning was that of "democracy, human rights and tolerance, to be achieved by dialogue and accommodation between enemies. [309] He had first used the metaphor in 1989 when he described a multi-racial protest crowd as the "rainbow people of God". In 1987 Tutu was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award,[490] named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize. [22] In Johannesburg, he attended a Methodist primary school before transferring to the Swedish Boarding School (SBS) in the St Agnes Mission. [464] He also argued that both black and African theology shared a repudiation of the supremacy of Western values. Nonviolent Peace Prize. JOHANNESBURG (AP) Desmond Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon, an uncompromising foe of the country's past racist policy of apartheid and a modern-day activist for racial justice and LGBT rights, died Sunday at 90. Tutu woke at 4am every morning, before engaging in an early morning walk, prayers, and the Eucharist. Desmond Tutu, 1984 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: Bishop of Johannesburg and former Secretary General South African Council of Churches (S.A.C.C.). Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. [300] Tutu was succeeded as archbishop by Njongonkulu Ndungane. [244] He telephoned representatives of the American, British, and German governments urging them to pressure Botha on the issue,[245] and personally met with Botha at the latter's Tuynhuys home to discuss the issue. This role was internationally recognised by the awarding of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. [150] He was also reportedly bad at managing finances and prone to overspending, resulting in accusations of irresponsibility and extravagance. [459] He regarded the Anglican Communion as a family, replete with its internal squabbles. [132] In August, Tutu was enthroned as the Bishop of Lesotho in a ceremony at Maseru's Cathedral of St Mary and St James; thousands attended, including King Moshoeshoe II and Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan. [142] Back in Johannesburgwhere the SACC's headquarters were based at Khotso House[143]the Tutus returned to their former Orlando West home, now bought for them by an anonymous foreign donor. Desmond Tutu, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent fight against apartheid in South Africa, died at the age of 90. [145], The SACC was one of the few Christian institutions in South Africa where black people had the majority representation;[146] Tutu was its first black leader. [379], Tutu died from cancer at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town on 26 December 2021, aged 90. [313], A key question facing the post-apartheid government was how they would respond to the various human rights abuses that had been committed over the previous decades by both the state and by anti-apartheid activists. [333] Tutu equated discrimination against homosexuals with discrimination against black people and women. [368], Tutu maintained an interest in social issues. The cleric and social activist, who was described by South Africans and admirers . [217] He also proposed a national strike against apartheid, angering trade unions whom he had not consulted beforehand. [333] Tutu's approach to Anglicanism has been characterised as having been Anglo-Catholic in nature. [352] In 2008, he called for a UN Peacekeeping force to be sent to Zimbabwe. [57] Tutu and the other trainees did not engage in anti-apartheid campaigns;[58] he later noted that they were "in some ways a very apolitical bunch". [267] Although Tutu's relationship with Buthelezi had always been strained, particularly due to Tutu's opposition to Buthelezi's collaboration in the government's Bantustan system, Tutu repeatedly visited Buthelezi to encourage his involvement in the democratic process. Press release - The Nobel Peace Prize 1984. The Peace Prize award made a big difference to Tutu's international standing, and was a helpful contribution to the struggle against apartheid. [488] In 2000, the Munsieville Library in Klerksdorp was renamed the Desmond Tutu Library. [399] He also disliked gossip and discouraged it among his staff. [399] Tutu has also been described as being sensitive,[405] and very easily hurt, an aspect of his personality which he concealed from the public eye;[399] Du Boulay noted that he "reacts to emotional pain" in an "almost childlike way". [476] By 1984 he wasaccording to Gish"the personification of the South African freedom struggle". MLA style: Desmond Tutu Biographical. [399], As well as English, Tutu could speak Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, and Xhosa. [429] In 1985 he stated that he hated MarxismLeninism "with every fiber of my being" although sought to explain why black South Africans turned to it as an ally: "when you are in a dungeon and a hand is stretched out to free you, you do not ask for the pedigree of the hand owner. Key points: "[430], Tutu never became anti-white, in part due to his many positive experiences with white people.