Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith has described Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a giant and an outstanding leader.

Tutu, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon and advocate against apartheid, died today at age 90. 

Tutu worked passionately, tirelessly and non-violently to tear down apartheid — South Africa's brutal, decades-long regime of oppression against its black majority that only ended in 1994.

Johnson Smith say as a religious leader and nationalist, Tutu was the conscience of a nation and a world, for as long as he felt he was needed. 

“He demonstrated courage when others lost hope, never faltering in his advocacy and exemplary conduct in the service of a fairer, more just cause for equity and humanity,” she said in a statement today.

“He was relentless in his pursuit of the rights of his people, and challenged the status quo in ways that demonstrated the supremacy of right over might and reason over fear,” she added.

Johnson Smith noted that Jamaica's contribution to the struggle to dismantle the system of apartheid in South Africa has long been recognised globally and that this took on even greater meaning when Tutu saw it fit to use his visit to the island in 1986 to pay homage to the efforts of the country.

In acknowledgement of his work, the Government of Jamaica conferred on him the high honour of the Order of Jamaica (Honorary).

“With his passing, we are reminded of the tremendous sacrifices made by Archbishop Tutu and many of his peers, and of the legacy now bequeathed to the new South Africa. We extend deepest condolences to his immediate family, and the Government and people of South Africa,” said Johnson Smith.

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