Profile Text
Tutu in 2006, photo by Starfrenzy /Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Date of Birth: 7 October, 1931
Place of Birth: Klerksdorp, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Date of Death: 26 December, 2021
Place of Death: Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Ethnicity: amaFengu Xhosa, Tswana
Desmond Tutu was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian. He was Bishop of Johannesburg, from 1985 to 1986, and Archbishop of Cape Town, from 1986 to 1996; and was the first black African to hold either post. He was known for his work as an anti-Apartheid and human rights activist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1984.
Desmond was the son of mother, Aletta/Allen Dorothea Mavoertsek Mathlare, a Motswana from Boksburg, Gauteng, and father, Zacheriah/Zachariah Zililo/Zelilo Tutu, a Xhosa of the amaFengu branch from Gcuwa, Eastern Cape. His father was principal of a Methodist primary school. His mother was a cook. The family spoke Xhosa at home. His family changed religions, from Methodist, to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and then to the Anglican Church. He was partly raised in Tshing and Witwatersrand. He was ordained a deacon in 1960, and an Anglican priest in 1961, and was consecrated in 1976.
Desmond was married activist Nomalizo Leah (Shenxane) Tutu, until his death. The couple had four children, including Anglican priest, author, and activist Mpho Tutu van Furth. His granddaughter is actress Natasha Thahane. Desmond spoke English, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, and Xhosa.