Desmond Tutu won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his impassioned campaign against apartheid while Nelson Mandela languished in prison.
Desmond Tutu, the flamboyant cleric who won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his impassioned campaign against apartheid in South Africa while Nelson Mandela languished in prison, died early Sunday in Cape Town.A moral beacon in a deeply troubled land, Tutu managed to irritate the African National Congress government that took power after South Africa’s first all-race elections, as much as he had riled the apartheid regime that had previously oppressed the country’s Black majority.
Shortly after the 1994 elections, he publicly rebuked Mandela’s government for “having stopped the gravy train only long enough to get on.” The president complained, but soon announced salary cuts for himself, his cabinet and Parliament. After the 1994 election, one of Tutu’s greatest contributions was to lead the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a statutory panel charged with investigating murder, torture, bombings and other crimes by Blacks and whites committed during apartheid, the former white minority rulers’ system of segregation.
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born Oct. 7, 1931, in a dirt-poor Black township outside the conservative white town of Klerksdorp, about 100 miles southwest of Johannesburg. His family soon moved to Muncieville, near Johannesburg, where his late father, Zachariah, was headmaster of the segregated high school for Black students.
He wanted to be a doctor, and was one of a handful of Blacks admitted to medical school. But his parents couldn’t afford the fees, so Tutu became an English teacher at his father’s school instead. “It wasn’t highfalutin, noble ideas, like I wanted to serve God or serve our people,” he told SABC with a laugh. “Which shows that God can use even the worst kind of instrument for his works.”
His influence grew when he was elected the first Black general secretary of the South African Council of Churches in 1978.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
Factbox: Reaction to the death of South Africa's Desmond TutuArchbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa's struggle against white minority rule, died on Sunday aged 90, the presidency said.
Consulte Mais informação »
Key dates in the life of South African cleric and activist Desmond TutuHere is a timeline of key dates in Desmond Tutu's life:
Consulte Mais informação »
Desmond Tutu, South African equality activist, dies at 90South Africa's president says Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights and the retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died at the age of 90
Consulte Mais informação »
Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies at 90Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Anglican cleric whose good humor, inspiring message and conscientious work for civil and human rights made him a revered leader during the struggle to end apartheid in his native South Africa, has died. He was 90.
Consulte Mais informação »
Factbox: Reaction to the death of South Africa's Desmond TutuArchbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa's struggle against white minority rule, died on Sunday aged 90, the presidency said.
Consulte Mais informação »
Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies at 90Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Anglican cleric whose good humor, inspiring message and conscientious work for civil and human rights made him a revered leader during the struggle to end apartheid in his native South Africa, has died. He was 90.
Consulte Mais informação »