ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS DESMOND MPILO TUTU

MY HUMANITY IS BOUND UP IN YOURS, FOR WE CAN ONLY BE HUMAN TOGETHER.

ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS DESMOND MPILO TUTU

Born: 7 October 1931 Hometown: Klerksdorp, South Africa Studied: King’s College London Occupation: Bishop of Johannesburg, former General secretary, South African Council of Churches, and anti-apartheid and human rights activist Died: 26 December 2021

Image credit: Benny Gool

THE DIMINUTIVE ARCH THAT TOWERED OVER US

ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS DESMOND MPILO TUTU

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu was 17 years old when the National Party took power and began implementing its version of fascism and 63 when the fi rst democratic government was elected.

Having literally spent his adult life under the yoke of arguably the most enthusiastically prosecuted system of State oppression since Nazi Germany, it would have been understandable if he had felt the urge of retribution. Yet the world never saw a trace of bitterness.

During the second day of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings, he was left distraught when confronted with the banal yet horrifi c details recounted by Singqokwana Malgas of his torture at the hands of the police. In his foreword to the fi nal TRC Report, it was clear that the entire TRC journey had been equally fraught.

“It’s been a gruelling job of work that has taken a physical, mental, and psychological toll. We have borne a heavy burden as we have taken onto ourselves the anguish, the awfulness, and the sheer evil of it all,” Tutu wrote.

Yet, even after two years, 22 000 victim statements, 7 000 amnesty applications and 2 500 amnesty hearings, even after hearing how apartheid’s assassins “enjoyed” a braai while burning a victim’s remains or watching a policeman demonstrate on an actual victim how he waterboarded detainees, Tutu still urged reconciliation and forgiveness. “Having looked the beast of the past in the eye, having asked and received forgiveness and having made amends, let us shut the door on the past – not in order to forget it but in order not to allow it to imprison us,” he wrote. Tutu’s exhortation in the TRC Report that we should “close the chapter on our past” probably had detractors and admirers in equal measure but his sincerity was beyond reproach.

Franklin Sonn, Desmond Tutu and Jakes Gerwel lead a protest march from St George’s Cathedral in 1989. Image credit: Benny Gool

Tutu was born on 7 October 1931 in Klerksdorp. After completing high school, he trained as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal College and taught in a local high school while completing a Bachelor of Arts degree through Unisa, awarded in 1954.

Around the time of his marriage to Leah in 1955 he decided to become a priest and, after completing his studies in theology, took up duties as a deacon in 1960 and was ordained as a priest in the following year. With the help of bursaries and a scholarship he moved his young family to London in 1962 and enrolled at King’s College, University of London. His master’s followed in 1966, after which he taught at the Federal Theological Seminary at Alice in the Eastern Cape and served as the Anglican chaplain at the University of Fort Hare.

Having experienced life in a freer society, he sympathised with student protests. After a short stint lecturing at Roma University in Lesotho, he accepted a post as Associate Director for Africa of the Theological Education Fund and moved back to London in 1972. The new job required intensive travel in developing countries, including in Africa.

He returned in 1975 to become the fi rst black Dean of Johannesburg and the Rector of St Mary’s Cathedral. He became Bishop of Lesotho in 1976, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches in 1978 and rector of St Augustine’s in Orlando West in 1981.

By this time, he was preaching against apartheid and becoming a vocal critic of government policies. In reaction, the government withdrew

Images by Benny Gool

his passport and began harassing the SACC. After his passport was returned, he travelled to the USA where he addressed audiences on the South African struggle and raised funds for several non-governmental organisations. He helped found the United Democratic Front in 1983 and was elected a patron. The following year he won the Nobel Peace prize and was appointed Bishop of Johannesburg, followed by Bishop of Cape Town in 1985 and Archbishop in 1986. At his invitation, Senator Edward Kennedy visited South Africa in January 1985. The US media accompanying Kennedy relayed constant images and reports of oppression and poverty in South Africa, which incensed the government.

Tutu spent much of the 1980s addressing meetings, funerals and protest marches as the struggle intensifi ed, culminating in the Defi ance campaign of 1989. Several times during the 1990s negotiated transition period, as at the funeral of Chris Hani, his persuasive oratory and moral standing kept the process from derailing.

He retired as Archbishop in 1996 and took on the challenge of chairing the TRC hearings despite a cancer diagnosis. Much of his energy in retirement was expended in healthcare advocacy around HIV and tuberculosis (he had suff ered TB as a child), fundraising for charitable causes and promoting peace initiatives as the chair of The Elders group. US President Obama recognised his work with the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

After retiring from public life in 2010, Tutu stepped down as UWC Chancellor, having inspired the institution for 25 years.