Remembering Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Tributes are pouring in for anti-apartheid hero Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who passed away this morning, praising his contribution to racial justice and human rights worldwide. He was 90.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Archbishop Tutu was one of his personal heroes and hailed him as a man of peace, dignity and goodwill.

Holness said Archbishop Tutu's life and work offer much to celebrate and emulate. 

Archbishop Tutu had been in ill health for several years. In 2013, he underwent tests for a persistent infection, and was admitted to hospital several times in subsequent years.

For six decades, Tutu - known affectionately as "The Arch" - was one of the primary voices in exhorting the South African government to end apartheid, the country's official policy of racial segregation. 

After apartheid ended in the  mid 1990s and the long-imprisoned Nelson Mandela became president of the country, Tutu was named chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Nelson Mandela foundation called his loss immeasurable.

In the same spirit, the current South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has described Archbishop Tutu as a patriot without equal.

He described Archbishop Tutu was a man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid.

The South African President added that Archibishop Tutu was tender and vulnerable in his compassion for oppressed and downtrodden people around the world. 

Former Archbishop of York John Sentamu knew Archbishop Tutu well.

“He said to me once that when he dies - he hopes the epitaph would be very clear - that Desmond Tutu la\oved, laughed, he cried and that’s what he was - he was always a man of tremendous joy and because of that, he was such a wonderful person,” Sentamu said 

And former US President Barack Obama has joined others paying tribute to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Obama described the churchman as a mentor, friend and moral compass.He says Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere.

In Jamaica                                                                 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Jamaica in August 1986 as a special guest of the government and was honoured with the Order of Jamaica. 

In a public address, Archbishop Tutu spoke of the futility of the apartheid policy in South Africa.

“Until every black person is free in South Africa, no one is going out be free; the only way in which they can make it, is together.”