Desmond Tutu who is a South African Archbishop, died Sunday at the age of 90, was the moral compass of his beloved “Rainbow Nation”, and was never anxious, to tell the truth to power, whatever its creed or color. A powerful activist, he earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for battling white minority rule in his country. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a statement, “The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another passage of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa.” Famously bold, even after the decline of the supremacist apartheid administration, Tutu never shied away from defying South Africa’s shortcomings or injustices. It’s a great privilege, it’s a great honor that people think that maybe your name can make a small difference,” he added shortly before his 80th birthday in 2011.
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Whether bringing on his church over gay rights, rallying for Palestinian statehood, or calling out South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on fraud, his high-profile campaigns were complicated and often disliked. No leader was spared — not even his close friend, late president Nelson Mandela, with whom Tutu sparred in 1994 over what he named the ANC’s “gravy train mentality”. Previously “the Arch” brought exuberant shenanigans to all his undertakings. He was quick to crack jokes and was always willing to dance and laugh energetically with a contagious cackle that became his brand. It was Tutu who invented and popularized the term “Rainbow Nation” to depict South Africa when Mandela became president. During that period, Tutu was performing as the first black Anglican archbishop of Cape Town. He was ordained at the age of 30 and elected archbishop in 1986, he used his role to endorse international sanctions against apartheid, and later to rally for rights worldwide.
