Desmond Tutu is stepping down from public life, as he celebrates his 79th birthday Archbishop Desmond Tutu is stepping down from public life, as he celebrates his 79th birthday. The man described as the "conscience" of South Africa was a prominent voice during the country's struggle against white minority rule. He has since been the voice of reconciliation in a number of regional conflicts. But the Nobel Peace prize winner now says he wants to make way for a new generation of leaders. Archbishop Tutu is a man widely considered as a moral compass in South Africa, admired for his integrity and adored for his infectious laugh. But now he is bowing out of public life. As a young cleric back in the 1970s he was a vocal critic of the apartheid regime. In the mid-1980s, still under white minority rule, he campaigned in the townships - on one occasion famously wading into the frontline to call for calm when a mob tried to lynch a suspected undercover policeman. He later went on to become the archbishop of Cape Town in 1986, and nearly a decade later chaired the Truth and Reconciliation commission - the body set up to investigate apartheid-era crimes. In more recent times, he has been involved in conflict resolution, and has continued to court controversy - singling out leaders such as Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Britain's Tony Blair for criticism. He insists his departure aims to clear the way for new talent to blossom, but he remains a potent symbol of South African pride. Source: BBC