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In Pictures: The life of South Africa’s Desmond Tutu

An uncompromising foe of apartheid, Tutu worked tirelessly, though non-violently, for its downfall.

Desmond Tutu laughs as crowds gather to celebrate his birthday by unveiling an arch in his honour outside St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 7, 2017. [Mike Hutchings/Reuters]
Published On 26 Dec 2021

Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, died on Sunday at the age of 90.

An uncompromising foe of apartheid – South Africa’s brutal regime of oppression against the Black majority – Tutu worked tirelessly, though non-violently, for its downfall.

The buoyant, blunt-spoken clergyman used his pulpit as the first Black bishop of Johannesburg and later archbishop of Cape Town as well as frequent public demonstrations to galvanise public opinion against racial inequity at home and globally.

Tutu’s death on Sunday “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” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.

“From the pavements of resistance in South Africa 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.”

Retiring Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, right, greeting President Nelson Mandela at a service in Cape Town, on June 23, 1996, held to celebrate the end of Tutu's tenure as leader of the Anglican Church in South Africa. [Guy Tillim/AP Photo]
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu shares a joke with the Dalai Lama after their meeting. The Dalai Lama was in South Africa on a short visit, the first by the Buddhist leader. [File: Mike Hutchings/Reuters]
Tutu, right, with his wife Leah, left, at a church service in St George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 7, 2021, as Tutu celebrated his 90th birthday. [Nardus Engelbrecht/AP Photo]
Former US President Barack Obama, left, is pictured alongside Tutu as he visits his HIV Foundation Youth Centre and takes part in a health event with youth in Cape Town, June 30, 2013. [File: Jason Reed/Reuters]
Tutu, centre, accompanied by Deputy Mufti of Jerusalem Muhammad Saeed Jamal, right, and head of the Anglican Church in Israel, Bishop Samir Kafity (on Tutu's left), walks past the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on December 23, 1989. [File: Anat Givon/AP Photo]
Tutu speaks to a crowd at New York's City Hall on May 28, 1986. Tutu was in New York to drum up support for a rally on June 14 for sanctions against South Africa and apartheid. Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins is standing in the background to the right. [File: Susan Ragan/AP Photo]
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Tutu and his wife Leah admire the view from China's Great Wall at Badaling outside Beijing on August 13, 1986. Tutu was visiting China at the invitation of religious groups. [File: Neal Ulevich/AP Photo]
In this photo from February 26, 2013, Tutu, right, and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speak during a press briefing after the Nobel laureates' meeting at her residence in Yangon, Myanmar. [File: Khin Maung Win/AP Photo]
Nelson Mandela, centre, and Tutu, right, arrive at a football stadium to take part in an open-air service for the country's Christian community, in the township of Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, on May 8, 1994. [File: Desmond Boylan/Reuters]