South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, has died at the age of 90.
Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his campaign of non-violent opposition to South Africa’s white minority rule.
Desmond Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and has been hospitalised several times in recent years to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.
“Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning,” Dr Ramphela Mamphele, acting chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust and coordinator of the Office of the Archbishop, said in a statement on behalf of the Tutu family.
Ms Mamphele did not give details on the cause of death.
“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,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
The statement described Tutu as a man who “turned his own misfortune into a teaching opportunity to raise awareness and reduce the suffering of others.”
It said: “He wanted the world to know that he had prostate cancer, and that the sooner it is detected the better the chance of managing it.”
The statement added: “Courageous, gracious, and concerned for the welfare of others to the very end.
“As Mrs Tutu says, although he was not physically imposing, he had the inner strength of a lion.”
Source: Sky News.
