PRETORIA – Human rights organiSation #Africa4Palestine on Sunday joined “fellow South Africans, Africans and peace-loving people across the world” in mourning the death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
#Africa4Palestine described Tutu as “a dear friend of the Palestinian people”.
“Archbishop Tutu was a close confidant of #Africa4Palestine – someone whom we consulted with, asked for advice and sought support from. Tutu was an ally of all oppressed peoples across the globe, and specifically of the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israeli apartheid,” said #Africa4Palestine spokesperson, Tisetso Magama.
#Africa4Palestine board member, Professor Farid Esack, a personal friend of Tutu said the Archbishop’s boundless love, his wit and humour and his unflinching and principled commitment to a better world will inspire generations.
“We and the Palestinians have lost an indomitable fighter, a courageous leader and a moral icon, without equal. We are bereft of a prophet who consistently warned against ideas of cheap peace which may come without justice,” said Esack.
“I am immensely grateful for having travelled and worked with the Archbishop in the Struggle against apartheid in South Africa, in solidarity with the Palestinians against Israeli occupation, and in supporting various other causes. His boundless love, his wit and humour and his unflinching and principled commitment to a better world will always inspire us.”
#Africa4Palestine paid homage to the life and struggle of “our comrade and father, Archbishop Tutu” and offered deep condolences to Mama Leah and their children – Trevor Thamsanqa, Naomi Nontombi, Theresa Thandeka, and Reverend Mpho.
“We, in a profound and deeply painful way, say ‘Hamba Kahle’ (go well) our leader, inspirer and energiser of the oppressed,” said Esack.
Earlier on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Tutu passed had away in Cape Town, aged 90.
“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu 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,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.
“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.”
Ramaphosa expressed his profound sadness on behalf of all South Africans.
Tutu was the last surviving South African laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize.
IOL