JOHANNESBURG – Archbishop Desmond Tutu announced Thursday he was withdrawing from public life after decades at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid and injustice around the world.
"I have done as much as I can and need time to do things I have really wanted to do. I do want a little more quiet," the Nobel laureate told a press conference at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
"On October 7, I turn 79 years old, and withdraw from public life," he said.
"Instead of growing old gracefully, at home with my family – reading and writing and praying and thinking – too much of my time has been spent at airports and in hotels," he added.
"The time has now come to slow down, to sip Rooibos (redbush) tea with my beloved wife in the afternoons, to watch cricket, to travel to visit my children and grandchildren, rather than to conferences and conventions and university campuses.
"Existing diary appointments will be honoured, but no new appointments will be added to my schedule."
"As Madiba said on his retirement: Don’t call me; I’ll call you." Tutu added, calling Nelson Mandela by his clan name.
But he said that he would continue to work with The Elders, a group of eminent world leaders brought together by Mandela to use their influence to support peace efforts and help alleviate poverty and suffering.
"My involvement with the Elders and Nobel Laureate Group will continue, as will my support for the development of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town" which his foundation is building, he said.
Tutu was a leading figure in the fight against South Africa’s white-minority regime, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his non-violent struggle against apartheid, establishing himself as the voice of the nation’s conscience.
In the years since, he proved indefatigable in leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to uncover the horrors of apartheid-era abuses.
He never shied away from shining a spotlight on modern South Africa’s failings, while travelling the globe to promote peace efforts from the Middle East to the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.
"He is the voice that we are going to miss, the voice of moral authority. He will be missed among all South Africans," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a political analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies.
"He has done a lot for the country and the church, using his position to highlight the plight of the country during apartheid," he said.
"He deserves a break, but I don’t think he would be able to fully retire from the matters of the country."
Tutu maintains a relentless public schedule, right up to his announcement Thursday.
On Wednesday he and fellow Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi led hundreds of rights groups in urging Senegal to try exiled Chadian dictator Hissene Habre for mass murder and torture.
On Tuesday, he wrote in The New York Times to urge U.S. President Barack Obama to increase AIDS funding, and joined a UN commission to look into new ways of preventing HIV infections.
But Tutu said he looked forward to having time to dote on his wife Leah. They married in 1955 and have four children.
"Marrying Leah was the best decision I made in my life," he said. "Now I will have the time to serve her hot chocolate in bed in the mornings, as any doting husband should."
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