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DESMOND MPILO TUTU (7 OCTOBER 1931–26 DECEMBER 2021)
RIP Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate and Honorary Elder — Thank You for the Joy and Love
The Arch died at 90, the day after Christmas on 26 December, 2021
Tributes continue to pour in from around the world.
Mine won’t make headline news but will help appease my blues and hopefully ease this lump in my throat.
I never met the Arch in person but mourn his passing. He was the spiritual father of our nation, never wavering in his quest for social justice — whether here or elsewhere in the world.
His election as Bishop of Cape Town in 1985 coincided with my recovery in hospital from a near-death experience of peritonitis after an emergency appendectomy.
During apartheid, hospitals were segregated, thus my fellow patients in the general ward were white. A woman in the next bed asked me what I thought of Tutu’s appointment. Although many whites disapproved of a black man making progress in the Anglican Church, I had no compunction about saying it was wonderful news. She agreed.
