Desmond Tutu retires from public life

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, who, along with Nelson Mandela was one of the main symbolic figures of the struggle against apartheid, has announced his retirement from public life.

"It is time to slow down" said the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. His new life begins on October 7, the day of his 79th birthday.

He explained: "hot chocolates in bed" for his wife Leah, no more assignments from the UN, very few interviews and only a commitment in the so called "group of wise men" created by Mandela to help resolve world crises.

Tutu made the announcement during a press conference in Cape Town, just a few days after Mandela's 92nd birthday, and the celebrations for the first ever "International Nelson Mandela Day".

Tutu told reporters about some of his special memories: from the Nobel prize for the struggle against racial segregation to the nomination, in 1994, of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission instituted by Mandela. Tutu then described the sensation experienced after Mandela was elected as president of a democratic South Africa: "I thought 'My God, if I die now, I don't care'".

Source: Missionary News Service Africa