Desmond Mpilo Tutu OMSG CH GCStJ (7 October 1931– 26 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology.
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born of mixed Xhosa
and Motswana heritage to a poor family in Klerksdorp, South Africa. Entering adulthood, he trained as a teacher
and married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane in 1955, with whom he had four children,
including Mpho Tutu van Furth. In 1960,
he was ordained as an Anglican priest and in 1962, he moved to the United
Kingdom to study theology at King's College London. In 1966 he returned to Africa, teaching at the
Federal Theological Seminary in South Africa, and then the University of
Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. In 1972, he became the Theological Education
Fund's director for Africa, a position based in London but necessitating
regular tours of the African continent. Back in southern Africa in 1975, he
served first as dean of St Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg and then as Bishop
of Lesotho.
From 1978 to 1985 he was
general-secretary of the South African Council of Churches. He emerged as one of the most prominent
opponents of South Africa's apartheid system of racial segregation and white
minority rule. 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.
In 1985, Tutu became Bishop of
Johannesburg and in 1986 the Archbishop of Cape Town, the most senior position
in southern Africa's Anglican hierarchy. In this position, he emphasised a
consensus-building model of leadership and oversaw the introduction of female
priests. Also in 1986, he became
president of the All Africa Conference of Churches, resulting in further tours
of the continent. After President F. W.
de Klerk released the anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela from prison in
1990 and the pair led negotiations to end apartheid and introduce multi-racial
democracy, Tutu assisted as a mediator between rival black factions. After the 1994
general election resulted in a coalition government headed by Mandela, the
latter selected Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to
investigate past human rights abuses committed by both pro and anti-apartheid
groups. Following apartheid's fall, Tutu campaigned for gay rights and spoke
out on a wide range of subjects, among them his support of Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian
conflict (alongside his simultaneous belief in Israel's right to exist), his opposition
to the Iraq War, and his criticism of South African presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob
Zuma. In 2010, he retired from public
life.
As Tutu rose to prominence in the 1970s,
white conservatives who supported apartheid despised him, while many white liberals
regarded him as too radical; many black radicals accused him of being too
moderate and focused on cultivating white goodwill, while Marxist–Leninists criticised
his anti-communist stance. He was popular among South Africa's black majority
and was internationally
praised for his work involving anti-apartheid activism, resulting in him
receiving a range of awards including the Nobel Peace Prize. He also compiled several books of his speeches
and sermons.
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