October 07, (THEWILL) – Events are being held in South Africa to mark the 90th birthday of the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Desmond Tutu.
Although frail, Tutu is expected to attend a service on Thursday, his birthday, at St. George’s Cathedral in central Cape Town, where as the country’s first Black Anglican archbishop he delivered sermons excoriating apartheid.
The Dalai Lama and Graca Machel, the widow of the late President Nelson Mandela, are among those due to take part in an online lecture in his honour.
At the church service Thursday, fellow anti-Apartheid campaigner Alan Boesak is to speak.
There will also be an online seminar about Tutu’s life and values to be addressed by the Dalai Lama; the widow of Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel; former Irish Prime Minister Mary Robinson; and South African governance advocate Thuli Madonsela.
Although he largely withdrew from public life more than a decade ago, Desmond Tutu is remembered for his leading role in denouncing white minority rule in apartheid-era South Africa.
Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his campaign of nonviolent opposition to South Africa’s system of white minority rule.
Often hailed as the conscience of South Africa, Tutu was a key campaigner against South Africa’s previous brutal system of oppression against the country’s Black majority.
After South Africa achieved democracy in 1994, he continued to be an outspoken proponent of reconciliation, justice and LBGT rights.
After retiring as archbishop in 1996, Tutu was Chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated Human Rights abuses during the Apartheid era.
He withdrew from public life in 2010 and issued statements through his foundation.
He has been treated for prostate cancer and was hospitalised several times in 2015 and 2016, and underwent a surgical procedure to address recurring infections from past cancer treatment.
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