"A True South African Giant": Tributes to Desmond Tutu, a Force for Harmony

Tributes from global and religious leaders, South Africans and prominent supporters from around the world flooded social media on Sunday after the death of Desmond M. Tutu.

An oratorical force whose leadership helped abolish apartheid in South Africa, Archbishop Tutu died at 90 in Cape Town. His stance of nonviolence in the anti-apartheid movement won him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. And he was a vocal advocate for peaceful reconciliation, guiding South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was charged with investigating the crimes of apartheid.

His death was announced on social media by the office of South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa. The cause was cancer, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation said.

Mr. Ramaphosa called Archbishop Tutu “a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead.”

Archbishop Tutu used his position as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission “to reckon with oppressive pasts but also to hold the new democratic government accountable,” the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a statement. “His contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies. He was an extraordinary human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd.”

Thabo Makgoba, the archbishop of Cape Town, said in a statement that Archbishop Tutu’s “legacy is moral strength, moral courage and clarity.”

“He felt with the people,” Archbishop Makgoba said. “In public and alone, he cried because he felt people’s pain. And he laughed — no, not just laughed, he cackled with delight when he shared their joy.”

“Indeed the big baobab tree has fallen,” the African National Congress said in a statement. “South Africa and the mass democratic movement has lost a tower of moral conscience and an epitome of wisdom.”

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who had struck up a friendship with Archbishop Tutu, recalled “the spiritual bond” the two shared.

“He was a true humanitarian and a committed advocate of human rights,” he wrote in a letter addressed to Archbishop Tutu’s daughter Mpho Tutu van Furth. He added, “I am convinced the best tribute we can pay him and keep his spirit alive is to do as he did and constantly look to see how we too can be of help to others.”

Many pointed to his unity, harmony and service to democracy in their tributes.

“Exceedingly heartsore to note the passing of Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu,” Thuli Madonsela, a former public protector for South Africa, wrote on Twitter. “He was one of the best among us. He brought light to darkness and lightness to heaviness.”

John Steenhuisen, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s opposition party, tweeted, “A true South African giant has left us, but his spirit will live on in the everyday kindness we South Africans show each other, and in our continued effort to build a united, successful, nonracial SA for all.”

Other leaders and officials outside South Africa also shared their condolences.

“His adage, ‘Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument’, has never felt more apt,” Dominic Raab, Britain’s deputy prime minister, wrote on Twitter.

“An Icon has rested,” Charity Ngilu, a Kenyan lawmaker who became the first woman to run for president in 1997, tweeted. “The history of democracy can’t be told without mentioning his contribution. Rest with the angels man of God.”