CAPE TOWN, South Africa
As South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu turns 90, recent racist graffiti on a portrait of the Nobel winner highlights the continuing relevance of his work for equality.
Often hailed as the conscience of South
Africa, Tutu was a key campaigner against South Africa’s previous brutal system
of oppression against the country’s Black majority. After South Africa achieved
democracy in 1994, he continued to be an outspoken proponent of reconciliation,
justice and LBGT rights.
The racial insult sprayed last month on a
mural of Tutu in Cape Town is “loathsome and sad,” said Mamphela Ramphele,
acting chairwoman of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Trust.
South Africans must continue Tutu’s work
for racial equality, she told The Associated Press.
In this March 12, 2008 file photo, Former South African President Nelson Mandela, right, reacts with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, left, in Johannesburg, South Africa
“Racism is a curse South Africa must
escape,” said Ramphele. “Archbishop Tutu’s legacy is huge. He fought against
racism and fought for the humanity of us all.”
Although frail, Tutu is expected to
attend a service on Thursday, his birthday, at St. George’s Cathedral in
central Cape Town, where as the country’s first Black Anglican archbishop he
delivered sermons excoriating apartheid.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1984 for his campaign of nonviolent opposition to South Africa’s system of
white minority rule.
After retiring as archbishop in 1996,
Tutu was chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which
investigated human rights abuses during the apartheid era.
Despite the serious nature of his work,
Tutu brought an irrepressible humor to his frequent public appearances.
Notably, he supported LBGT rights and same-sex marriage.
In this Monday May 6, 2019. file photo Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu exits his home in Cape Town, South Africa.
“I would not worship a God who is
homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this,” he said in 2013. “I would
refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say ‘Sorry, I would much
rather go to the other place.’”
Tutu said he was “as passionate about
this campaign (for LGBT rights) as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at
the same level.”
He withdrew from public life in 2010 and
issued statements through his foundation. He has been treated for prostate
cancer and was hospitalized several times in 2015 and 2016, and underwent a
surgical procedure to address recurring infections from past cancer treatment.
In this Sept. 25, 2019 file photo Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, holding their son Archie, meet with Anglican Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu, in Cape Town, South Africa
At the church service Thursday, fellow
anti-apartheid campaigner Alan Boesak is to speak. There will also be an online
seminar about Tutu’s life and values to be addressed by the Dalai Lama; the
widow of Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel; former Irish Prime Minister Mary
Robinson; and South African governance advocate Thuli Madonsela. - AP
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