Birthday of the week: Desmond Tutu
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu celebrated his birthday this week.
He was born in Klerksdorp on October 7,1931.
He is a social rights activist, retired Anglican bishop and Nobel Prize recipient who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid.
In 1984 Bishop Tutu was recognized with a Nobel Prize for his non-violent struggle to bring apartheid to an end.
He became the first black South African Archbishop of Cape Town on September 7, 1986.
After South Africa’s first democratic elections he was appointed, in 1995, to the position of chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to help South Africans deal with the atrocities of the country’s past.
He retired as the Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996 to devote all his time to the work of the TRC.
He was later named as the Archbishop Emeritus.
In 1997, Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent successful treatment in America.
Despite the illness he continued to work with the commission and became patron of the South African Prostate Cancer Foundation, which was established in 2007.
The Desmond Tutu Peace Centre (DTPC), co-founded by the archbishop and his wife, Leah in 1998, plays a role in building the legacy of Archbishop Tutu to enable peace in the world.
Tutu officially retired from public life on October 7, 2010, but continues with his involvement with the Elders and Nobel Laureate Group and his support of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre.
