Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu passed away this Sunday, December 26. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a statement expressing “on behalf of all South Africans, his deep sorrow at the death” of this essential figure in South African history. Desmond Tutu had dedicated his life to the fight against apartheid and then to the reconciliation of his country and the defense of human rights. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
Desmond Tutu had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s. He had been hospitalized several times in recent years to treat infections linked to the treatment of his cancer.
“An invincible man against the forces of apartheid”
“The death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is a new chapter of mourning in the farewell of our nation to a generation of exceptional South Africans who left us a liberated South Africa “, added the South African president. Nicknamed “The Arch” in his country, Desmond Tutu had been weakened for several months. He no longer spoke in public but always greeted the cameras present at each of his travels, smiling or mischievous glance, during his vaccine against the Covid-19 in a hospital or during the office in Cape Town to celebrate his 90 years in October .
Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, also greeted a man “of extraordinary intelligence, integrity and invincible against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered from oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and for the oppressed and for the oppressors of the whole world “.