Apartheid Resistance Leader And Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Dies

Archbishop Desmond Tutu gestures at the launch of a human rights campaign marking the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Mike Hutchings/Reuters/Antara)

JOHANNESBURG - Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa's struggle against white minority rule, died at the age of 90 on Sunday, December 26, the presidential office said.

In 1984, Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent opposition to apartheid.

A decade later, he witnessed the end of the South African regime and headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was set up to expose the atrocities committed during those dark times.

Tutu's outspokenness is regarded as the conscience of the nation by both blacks and whites -- a lasting testament to his faith and spirit of reconciliation in a divided nation.

Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and in recent years he has been hospitalized several times to treat infections related to his cancer treatment.

"The death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of grief in our nation's farewell to the extraordinary generation of South Africans who have left us a free South Africa," said President Cyril Ramaphosa.

"Desmond Tutu is an unparalleled patriot."

The presidency did not provide details on the cause of Tutu's death.

Tutu preached against the tyranny of the white minority and even after it ended, he never wavered in his fight for a more just South Africa by calling on black political elites to take responsibility as passionately as white Africans.

In his later years, he regretted that his dream of a "Rainbow Nation" had not yet come true.

"Finally, at the age of 90, he passed away peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Center in Cape Town this morning," said Dr Ramphhela Mamphele, acting chair Archbishop of Desmond Tutu IP Trust and Coordinator of the Archbishop's Office, in a statement on behalf of the Tutu family. .

Dubbed as "the nation's moral compass", Tutu's courage in defending social justice, even though he had to sacrifice himself, always radiated not only during the apartheid period.

He has frequently clashed with his former allies in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party over their failure to tackle the poverty and inequality they promised to eradicate.

Tutu helped stir grassroots campaigns around the world fighting to end apartheid through economic and cultural boycotts.

Talking and traveling tirelessly throughout the 1980s, Tutu became the face of the anti-apartheid movement abroad, while many ANC rebel leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, were behind bars.