Archbishop Desmond Tutu Retires

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu has announced that he wants to bow out of public life, and spend more time drinking tea at home with his wife.

“My schedule has grown increasingly punishing over the years,” he told a media briefing in Cape Town’s St George’s Cathedral  .

“The time has now come to slow down, to sip, ja, maybe rooibos tea with my beloved wife in the afternoons, to watch cricket and rugby and soccer and tennis,” he said.
“I think I’ve done as much as I can and really do need time for the other things that I have wanted to be doing.

“I do want a little more quiet.”
Tutu, who was awarded the prize in 1984 for his role in the anti-apartheid struggle, said he would turn 79 on October 7.

“From that date I intend to withdraw from public life,” he said.
He would limit his time in his Cape Town office to one day a week until the end of February 2011, when the office would begin its official winding-down process.

Existing diary appointments would be honoured, but no new appointments would be added to his schedule.His involvement with the Elders, a group of global leaders, and the Nobel Laureate Group, would continue, as would his support for the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town.

However, he would step down from his positions as chancellor of the University of the Western Cape, as a member of the United Nations advisory committee on the prevention of genocide, and would review the lists of organisations of which he was patron.Nor would he be available for media interviews.

Source: Christian Post