JOHANNESBURG // Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who helped to bring down apartheid in South Africa and shaped his country's society, marked his 79th birthday yesterday by announcing the end of his public life.
The Anglican cleric won a Nobel Peace prize for his non-violent struggle against the apartheid system. Even after the fall of the whites-only regime, he never shied away from shining a spotlight on modern South Africa's failings, while travelling the globe to promote efforts at peace from the Middle East to the distant Solomon Islands.
He brought to all his endeavours a playfulness, quick to crack jokes - often directed at himself - and always ready to skip, dance and laugh uproariously in public. That was how he appeared in June at a concert in Soweto to kick off the World Cup, having swapped his purple clerical garb for a South African football shirt and matching bobble hat. "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming. It's so beautiful; wake me up!" he said, dancing behind the microphone.
"We want to say to the world: 'Thank you for helping this ugly, ugly worm, or caterpillar which we were, to become a beautiful, beautiful butterfly." It was Rev Tutu who first baptised South Africa the "rainbow nation" at the first all-race elections in 1994. In 1996 - the year after Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first black president - he retired as archbishop of Cape Town to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
For 30 months, the commission lifted the lid on the horrors of apartheid by investigating atrocities. At one of its first hearings, Rev Tutu broke down and sobbed as a disabled victim described his torture by the security forces. Born in the small town of Klerksdorp, about an hour's drive west of Johannesburg, on October 7 1931, he trained as a teacher on a government scholarship because his family could not afford to send him to university.
But after a short stint as a teacher, his anger at the inferior education offered black children prompted him to become a priest. "It wasn't for very highfalutin' ideals that I became a priest," he said in his authorised biography. "It was almost by default. I couldn't go to medical school … the easiest option was going to theological college." Rev Tutu was ordained at the age of 30 and lived in South Africa, Britain and Lesotho before being appointed the first black archbishop of Cape Town in 1986.
He used his status to advocate international sanctions against apartheid South Africa as a means of forcing the government to bring about change. He believed firmly in the reconciliation of black and white South Africans and said at the first all-race elections in 1994: "I am walking on clouds. It is an incredible feeling, like falling in love. We South Africans are going to be the rainbow people of the world."
Mr Mandela is a great admirer of Rev Tutu and has described him as "a man who had inspired an entire nation with his words and his courage, who had revived the people's hope during the darkest of times". But such is their relationship that Rev Tutu felt free to chastise Mr Mandela for living openly with Graca Machel before their marriage. Never a member of the ruling African National Congress, Rev Tutu challenged authority both in government and in his church.
He spoke out against former president Thabo Mbeki's denial of the AIDS epidemic and lashed the party for trying to muzzle a Truth Commission interim report in October 1998. "I didn't struggle in order to remove one set of those who thought they were tin gods and replace them with others who are tempted to think they are," he said. Rev Tutu has also apologised to gays for the suffering the Anglican Church's teachings has caused them.
"I want to say sorry to you and all the others who have been made to suffer so horribly. Sometimes the Bible says these things are unnatural. But, I ask, unnatural to whom?" Some of his sharpest barbs were directed at Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, calling him a "caricature of an African dictator". Mr Mugabe responded by calling him "an evil little bishop". Rev Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 and underwent repeated treatments.
He married his wife Leah in 1955 and they had four children.
* Agence France-Presse
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The%20Super%20Mario%20Bros%20Movie
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SECRET%20INVASION
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The specs: 2018 Maserati Levante S
Price, base / as tested: Dh409,000 / Dh467,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 430hp @ 5,750rpm
Torque: 580Nm @ 4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.9L / 100km
The biog
Name: Maitha Qambar
Age: 24
Emirate: Abu Dhabi
Education: Master’s Degree
Favourite hobby: Reading
She says: “Everyone has a purpose in life and everyone learns from their experiences”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The%20specs
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TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
IF YOU GO
The flights: FlyDubai offers direct flights to Catania Airport from Dubai International Terminal 2 daily with return fares starting from Dh1,895.
The details: Access to the 2,900-metre elevation point at Mount Etna by cable car and 4x4 transport vehicle cost around €57.50 (Dh248) per adult. Entry into Teatro Greco costs €10 (Dh43). For more go to www.visitsicily.info
Where to stay: Hilton Giardini Naxos offers beachfront access and accessible to Taormina and Mount Etna. Rooms start from around €130 (Dh561) per night, including taxes.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
Ahmed Raza
UAE cricket captain
Age: 31
Born: Sharjah
Role: Left-arm spinner
One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95
T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The%20National%20selections
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