Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931, in Transvaal, South Africa, as one of four children of Zacheriah Zililo Tutu and his wife, Aletta Tutu.
His father was an elementary school principal, while his mother worked as a cook and cleaner at a blind school.
He grew up witnessing how blacks were discriminated against and denied fundamental privileges that whites had. When he was a youngster, black South Africans were denied the right to vote, and society was strictly divided.
Tutu and his siblings had a rather pleasant upbringing despite the fact that their family was impoverished.
He attended Johannesburg Bantu High School, where he acquired an excellent education and graduated in 1950. His early ambition was to become a doctor, and he got admitted to medical school.
However, he was unable to pursue medicine because of his parents’ financial constraints.
He then secured a scholarship to study education at Pretoria Bantu Normal College. In 1953, he received his teaching credential. He continued his schooling at the University of South Africa, where he graduated in 1954.
He served as Bishop of Lesotho and in 1985 he became Bishop of Johannesburg. Then, a year later, Tutu became the Archbishop of Cape Town – the most senior position in southern Africa’s Anglican hierarchy.
After the fall of apartheid, Tutu headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and retired national hero years on.
Desmond Tutu death: When did Desmond Tutu die?
Desmond Tutu died on December 26, 2021.
Desmond Tutu cause of death: What is the cause of Desmond Tutu’s death?
Cancer was the cause of death, according to the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, who said that Archbishop Tutu died at a care facility.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 and has been hospitalised numerous times subsequently, due to repeated worries that the disease has spread.
