Cape Town — Cricket South Africa (CSA) has learnt with sadness and a feeling of a tremendous loss of the passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
CSA sends its condolences to the entire Tutu family, friends, colleagues, the Anglican Church and indeed to the whole of South Africa.
Archibishop Tutu departs these shores having made an indelible contribution in the struggle against the unjust and criminal system of apartheid. He dedicated his entire life to the project of healing and reconciliation for our nation, a process he carried through even beyond his Chairmanship of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s.
Cricket benefitted immensely from his heroic efforts, as it ushered in a new era of unity, embodying God’s rainbow people. He passes on, on a day that South Africa and India commence a Test series, which also marks the 30th Anniversary of South Africa’s readmission into international cricket after our period of isolation from international participation.
This makes the Archibishop’s passing a very painful loss to CSA, as his activism and teachings helped in transforming the sport of cricket. CSA is delighted that the Archibishop was an avid cricket fan and yet another of the great sons and daughters of our soil that we have lost this year.
CSA’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr Pholetsi Moseki comments “There are just a handful of people who have made a greater contribution to our democracy, the reconciliation project and indeed the difficult times of transformation and the unification of sport and in particular cricket in South Africa than our beloved and much respected Archibishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.”
IOL Sport