It was the last of the great figures of the fight against apartheid: the Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the conscience of South Africa but also a mischievous and powerful laughter, died Sunday at 90 years old.
Until recently, the Nobel Peace Prize winner imposed his small purple silhouette and his legendary outspokenness to denounce injustices and to chip away at all powers.
President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed “his deep sadness” at the death of this “unequaled patriot”, “upright and invincible against the forces of apartheid, who leaves a widow,” Mama Leah “, and four children. “
This death represents “a new chapter of mourning in farewell to a generation of exceptional South Africans” who “left us” a country “liberated”, he added, a month after the death of FW de Klerk , last white president of the country.
After the advent of democracy in 1994 and the election of his friend Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu coined the term “Rainbow Nation”. He chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which he hoped, thanks to the confrontation of the executioners and the victims, that it would make it possible to turn the page on racial hatred.
“The Arch,” as South Africans affectionately call it, had been weakened for several months. Long suffering from prostate cancer, he died, probably of old age, peacefully on Sunday morning, according to relatives interviewed by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He no longer spoke in public but greeted the press present at each of his trips, with a mischievous look, a weak gesture of the hand, as during his vaccination against the Covid or, in October, at the ceremony celebrating its 90th anniversary.
A prayer was said at Saint George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, its former parish, where passers-by came to lay flowers and meditate.
This is where his funeral will take place on Saturday, his foundation announced in the evening. Until then, the bells will be rung every day for ten minutes, to think of him. And flags will be at half mast across the country, Ramaphosa added.
“It’s so sad,” sighed Miriam Mokwadi, 67, holding her little daughter by the hand in front of the building. “Tutu was a real hero, he fought for us”.
“Moral benchmark”
South African cricketers wore a black armband on Sunday. And Table Mountain, which overlooks Cape Town, was lit up purple in the evening, like the town hall.
His friend the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetans, with whom he shared memorable laughs, underlined “the spiritual bond” that united them.
Former US President Barack Obama spoke of “a friend, a mentor, a moral landmark”, while the current Joe Biden said he was “heartbroken”. Queen Elizabeth II praised the “tireless” human rights defender.
“A giant has fallen,” said Ugandan opponent Bobi Wine. His fight “will remain in our memories,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
Desmond Tutu had made a name for himself during the worst hours of the racist apartheid regime. While a priest, he organized peaceful marches against segregation and pleaded for international sanctions against the white regime in Pretoria. Her dress saved her from prison.
His daughter Mpho Tutu van Furth told AFP in October a childhood memory symptomatic of apartheid: “We stopped on the road and my father went to buy us ice cream. The employee told him that he did not serve the “kaffirs”. My father stormed out, we didn’t eat ice cream that day ”.
Tutu’s nonviolent struggle was crowned with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
After apartheid, faithful to his commitments, he denounced the excesses of the ANC in power, from mistakes in the fight against AIDS to corruption scandals.
In 2013, he promised to no longer vote for the apartheid gravedigger party: “I did not fight to drive out people who took themselves for junk gods and replace them with others.”
Among his other fights, he also defended homosexuals – “I would not worship a homophobic God” – and campaigned for the right to assisted suicide.
The last time the country heard from him was on 1er November. Out of sight, he had voted in local elections.