In a statement, the Presidency confirmed Archbishop Desmond Tutu sighed his last breath on Sunday 26 December 2021, at the age of 90.
Desmond Tutu dies: What’s the cause of death?
Concerns of the archbishop’s health condition came on Saturday when, during a Christmas Eve sermon, Cape Town’s archbishop Dr Thabo Makgoba excused Tutu’s absence, revealing that he and his wife Leah were not well.
The Archbishop of Cape Town Dr Thabo Makgoba says Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and wife, mama Leah are not well and asks that they be kept in prayer.
— Athi Mtongana (@Artii_M) December 24, 2021
They would’ve been in the front row at this evening’s Christmas (eve) sermon at St. George’s Cathedral. #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/oBbTwrZFou
While no official cause of death was announced in the statement, it’s believed the 90-year-old succumbed to a lifelong battle with prostate cancer,.
The world mourns the death of Tutu
Reacting to the passing of South Africa’s last surviving South African laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, President Cyril Ramaphosa termed the archbishop’s transition as “another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa.”
“Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.
“A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world,” he said.
World leaders also took to social media in reaction to Tutu’s death. Here are some of their tributes to the archbishop and his family:
“Do your little bit of good where you are; Its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu pic.twitter.com/moyT4ixOFu
— Giles Paley-Phillips (@eliistender10) December 26, 2021
“God is not a Christian. God accepts as pleasing those who live by the best lights available to them that they can discern. All truth, all sense of beauty, all awareness of goodness has one source, God, who is not confined to one place, time or people.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu pic.twitter.com/up1o42Hetj
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) December 26, 2021
RIP Desmond Tutu. He came to talk to us at college, and remembered when he was a teenager in Johannesburg seeing Fr Trevor Huddleston (another alumnus) raise his hat to his mother, the first time had seen a white man treat a black woman as an equal. Stayed with him all his life. pic.twitter.com/2Ch3PPLpvb
— Richard Coles (@RevRichardColes) December 26, 2021
The news of the passing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu is very sad. A giant has fallen. We thank God for his life- a purposeful life, truly lived in the service of humanity. May his soul rest in peace. Condolences to all people world-over who were touched by his life and ministry. pic.twitter.com/LFec89r7Oy
— BOBI WINE (@HEBobiwine) December 26, 2021
Sad to hear about Desmond Tutu’s passing. A giant in the fight for equality and justice, he’ll be missed and remembered for his role in transforming South Africa and dismantling apartheid.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) December 26, 2021
Tutu was an instrumental cog in South Africa’s transition to democracy, from the role he played in mending the wounds of a broken society at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “to the pulpits of the world’s great cathedrals and places of worship, and the prestigious setting of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Arch distinguished himself as a non-sectarian, inclusive champion of universal human rights.”
“In his richly inspiring yet challenging life, Desmond Tutu overcame tuberculosis, the brutality of the apartheid security forces and the intransigence of successive apartheid regimes. Neither Casspirs, teargas nor security agents could intimidate him or deter him from his steadfast belief in our liberation.
“He remained true to his convictions during our democratic dispensation and maintained his vigour and vigilance as he held leadership and the burgeoning institutions of our democracy to account in his inimitable, inescapable and always fortifying way,” Ramaphosa said.