Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace prize laureate who helped end apartheid in South Africa is dead
He was aged aged 90.
Tutu was was was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991
South Africa’s president, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who announced the Archbishop’s death on Sunday said “The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa.
“Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.
“A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world.
“As Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he articulated the universal outrage at the ravages of apartheid and touchingly and profoundly demonstrated the depth of meaning of ubuntu, reconciliation and forgiveness.
“He placed his extensive academic achievements at the service of our struggle and at the service of the cause for social and economic justice the world over.
The All-Africa Students Union AASU has mourn the demise of the quintessential anti-apartheid icon of the human rights struggle in South Africa, a Statesman of pan-African relevance, Archbishop emeritus of the Anglican Communion and Nobel Laureate – Archbishop Desmond Tutu who passed at Christmas.
OSISIOGU, Osikenyi E.President, All-Africa Students Union in a statement said Tutu’s life’s legacies has no doubt impacted immensely in shaping various spheres of the African Society and theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology.
“His demise will indeed further underscore the need for younger African Leaders to seek to fill the shoes of the revolutionary generation that placed Africa first in their lifetime, they’re fast all joining their ancestors.
“Finally, we commiserate with the The Tutu family, the Government and Peoples of South Africa, the South Africa Union of Students (SAUS), the South African Students Congress and indeed all of us Africans at home and diaspora.
May his legendary Soul Rest in God’s Peace
