05 April, 2013 - South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu
has won the 2013 Templeton Prize worth $1.7 million for helping inspire people around
the world by promoting forgiveness and justice, organisers said on Thursday. A leading
human rights activist of the late 20th century, the retired Anglican Archbishop of
Cape Town played a pivotal role in the downfall of apartheid and subsequently worked
to heal wounds in South Africa's traumatised society. The 81-year old archbishop
won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for standing up against white-minority rule. He
remains a prominent campaigner for peace and human rights. Established in 1972 by
the late American-born investor and philanthropist John Templeton, the annual prize
- worth more, in monetary terms, than the Nobel - honours a living person "who has
made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension". "When
you are in a crowd and you stand out from the crowd it's usually because you are being
carried on the shoulders of others," Tutu was quoted as saying in a statement released
by the U.S.-based foundation. "I want to acknowledge all the wonderful people who
accepted me as their leader at home and so to accept this prize in a representative
capacity," he said. The foundation, whose first award went to Mother Teresa in 1973,
praised Tutu as a moral voice for people around the world". "Desmond Tutu calls
upon all of us to recognise that each and every human being is unique in all of history
and, in doing so, to embrace our own vast potential to be agents for spiritual progress
and positive change," it said. "Not only does he teach this idea, he lives it." Born
in Klerksdorp, Transvaal in 1931, Tutu was ordained in 1960 just as the government
began resettling black Africans and Asians from areas designated as "whites only".
His position in the church gave him a prominent platform from which to criticise the
system. Angry with his activism, the government revoked his passport, prompting a
global outcry. With pressure on South Africa growing, talks between politicians and
the African National Congress led to the release in 1990 of Nelson Mandela and the
dismantling of apartheid laws. After elections, President Mandela appointed Tutu
as chairman of a commission examining the human rights abuses of the apartheid
years. After his retirement Tutu continued to work as a global campaigner for democracy
and human rights. (Source: Reuters)