Tutu, Desmond Mpilo (1931– )

South African priest, Anglican archbishop of Cape Town 1986–96 and secretary general of the South African Council of Churches 1979–84. One of the leading figures in the struggle against apartheid in the Republic of South Africa, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1984 for encouraging peaceful reconciliation between the black and white communities.

In November 1995 Tutu was named as the head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a commission set up in June 1995 by Nelson Mandela to investigate abuses by both government and opposition groups during the apartheid era.