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Archbishop Desmond Tutu turns 89 today

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South African Anglican cleric and activist, Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu clocks 89 years of age today, October 7 2020.

The theologian and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist.

Born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, Tutu trained first as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal College after leaving school and in 1954 he graduated from the University of South Africa.

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After three years as a high school teacher, he began to study theology, being ordained as a priest in 1960. The years 1962-66 were devoted to further theological study in England leading up to a Master of Theology.

From 1967 to 1972 he taught theology in South Africa before returning to England for three years as the assistant director of a theological institute in London.

In 1975 he was appointed Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first black to hold that position. From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho, and in 1978 became the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches.

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Tutu is an honorary doctor of a number of leading universities in the USA, Britain and Germany.

He won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in resolving and ending apartheid.

Tutu became the first Black Anglican Archbishop of both Cape Town and Johannesburg and is known as the voice of the voiceless Black South Africans for his outspoken criticism of apartheid.

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Tutu also supported the economic boycott of South Africa, while constantly encouraging reconciliation between various factions associated with apartheid.

When Nelson Mandela was elected as the nation’s first Black president—he appointed Tutu chairperson of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.

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