JOHANNESBURG: South African anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, described as the country’s moral compass, died on Sunday aged 90, sparking an outpouring of tributes for the outspoken Nobel peace laureate.

Tutu, who had largely faded from public life in recent years, was remembered for his easy humour and characteristic smile — and above all his tireless fight against injustices of all colours.

South Africa’s President Cyril Rama­phosa, announcing the archbishop’s death on Sunday, called him a man of “extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid”.

“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,” he said, weeks after the death of FW de Klerk, the country’s last white president.

Former US president Barack Obama, the country’s first Black leader, hailed Tutu as a towering figure and “moral compass”.

Imran pays tribute to the Nobel laureate

“A universal spirit, Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere,” Obama said in a statement.

Mourners gathered at his former parish in Cape Town, St George’s Cathedral, while others massed at his home, some holding flower bouquets, according to a journalist.

“If it was not for him, probably we would have been lost as a country,” said Miriam Mokwadi, a 67-year-old retired nurse, outside the cathedral.

The South African cricket team wore black armbands in his honour on the first day of the first Test against India in South Africa.

A tireless activist, Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for combating white minority rule in his country. He coined the term “Rainbow Nation” to describe South Africa when Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black president in 1994.

And Tutu retired in 1996 to lead a harrowing journey into South Africa’s brutal past as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which lifted the lid on the horrors of the apartheid regime.

However, Tutu also criticised the ruling African National Congress (ANC) — the vanguard of the fight against white-minority rule. He challenged Mandela over generous salaries for cabinet ministers and stridently criticised the corruption that mushroomed under ex-president Jacob Zuma.

Imran’s tribute

Like many world leaders, Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed condolences on the death of Archbishop Tutu.

Posting a message on Twitter, Mr Khan wrote: “My deepest condolences on the passing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate, close confidant of Nelson Mandela, an icon of anti-apartheid struggle & champion of human rights.”

“His critical role in liberation & national reconciliation is an inspiration for future generations,” he added.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2021