South Africa’s Desmond Tutu turns 90 amid new racist slur

By ANDREW MELDRUM
Associated Press

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — As South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu turns 90, recent racist graffiti on a portrait of the Nobel winner highlights the continuing relevance of his work for equality. Often hailed as the conscience of South Africa, Tutu was a key campaigner against South Africa’s previous brutal system of oppression against the Black majority.  After the country achieved democracy in 1994, he continued to be an outspoken proponent of reconciliation, justice and LBGT rights. Mamphela Ramphele, acting chairwoman of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Trust, said the racial insult sprayed last month on a mural of Tutu in Cape Town is “loathsome and sad.”  Tutu plans to attend a service Thursday on his birthday in Cape Town.