PERSONALITY PROFILE

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus, founding Chair of The Elders, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, social justice champion, anti-apartheid activist, father and husband, Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu has just celebrated yet another milestone in an incredible life: his 90th birthday.

Described as one of the most joyful people on the planet in ‘The Book of Joy’ by Douglas Adams Abrams, the Arch, as he is fondly known, was born in Klerksdorp in South Africa’s North-West Province in 1931.

His life and works are meticulously recorded on the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation website as follows:

Tutu attended Western High School near Sophiatown, during which time he contracted TB (tuberculosis). Studying by candlelight during the apartheid era, he matriculated in 1950 and was then accepted at the Witwatersrand Medical School. Without the necessary finances, however, he decided to pursue a career in teaching at the Bantu Normal College near Pretoria, effectively following in his father’s footsteps.

Once qualified, Tutu secured a teaching post at Madipane High. The year was 1954, the same year in which the Bantu Education Act went into effect, according to Britannica.com, which notes that the act ‘governed the education of Black South African – called Bantu by the then-country’s government – children’ and ‘was part of the government’s system of apartheid, which sanctioned racial segregation and discrimination against non-white people.’

While studying for his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA), Tutu met Robert Managliso Sobukwe, the first president of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In 1955, he married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, and started teaching at Munsieville High School, where his father was still the headmaster. Three years later, however, Tutu resigned in protest against a ‘corrupted educational system’.

From 1958 to 1962, his career path expanded to joining the priesthood. After enrolling at St Peter’s Theological College in Rosettenville, and achieving two distinctions, he was awarded a licensee in Theology, became a deacon at St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg and took up his first curacy at St Albans Church in Benoni.

By the time he was ordained as a priest in 1961, he and Leah were parents to three children. After being awarded a bursary to study at King’s College in the UK and a scholarship by the World Council of Churches (WCC), Tutu and his family relocated to London where he went on to complete his Honour’s and Master’s degrees in 1966.

The ensuing years, once back in South Africa, saw him rise from lecturer to Anglican Chaplain to Dean, during which time he added his voice to the antiapartheid movement.

He spent time as a lecturer at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, before returning to the UK, where he was appointed Associate Director of Africa of the Theological Education Fund in London.

He has never wavered from his commitment to building ‘trust, compassion and peace, not only in South Africa, but globally’

In 1975, Tutu and his family returned to South Africa. He became the first Black Anglican Dean of Johannesburg and the Rector of St Mary’s Cathedral Parish, also in Johannesburg — positions that allowed him to pursue his anti-apartheid stance.

A year later, on 16 June 1976, an uprising began in Soweto and spread around the country, in response to the Afrikaans language being enforced in schools. The Soweto Uprising ‘profoundly changed the sociopolitical landscape in South Africa’, according to SAHistory, with the number of people killed by police estimated to be anywhere from 176 to 700. In response, Tutu threw his weight behind the Soweto Parents Crisis Committee, which was established in the aftermath of the killings.

On 11 July 1976, Tutu was consecrated as a Bishop of Lesotho and then on 1 March 1978 took up the post of General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC). His continued criticism against apartheid led to his passport being withdrawn. Eighteen months later, he and Leah were issued with limited travel documents that allowed them to travel to the USA. While in America in 1984, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his untiring championing of the anti-apartheid movement — the second Black South African to be listed as a Nobel Laureate after Albert Luthuli.

Back home again, after serving as Bishop of Johannesburg for 18 months, he took up the position of Archbishop of Cape Town in September 1986 — the first black person to lead the Anglican Church of the Province of Southern Africa. In 1988, Bishop Tutu was appointed as the Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape.

Then, in 1990, a year after his election to the position of State President of South Africa, FW De Klerk unbanned the ANC and other political parties, and announced his intention to release Nelson Mandela from prison.

On 19 April 1993, Chris Hani, leader of the South African Communist Party, was murdered by right-wingers. At his funeral, Tutu urged mourners to chant with him: “We will be free! All of us! Black and white together!”

Nelson Mandela subsequently went on to become South Africa’s first democratically elected president on 27 April 1994, the first elections in which Tutu had ever voted. Following the elections, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established, and Tutu accepted President Mandela’s request to chair it. He retired from the Church in 1996 to focus solely on the TRC — he was later named Archbishop Emeritus and awarded The Order for Meritorious Service (Gold) for his outstanding service to the country.

Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997, Tutu underwent successful treatment in America, all the while continuing his work with the TRC. He subsequently became patron of the South African Prostate Cancer Foundation, wrote a book titled: No Future Without Forgiveness and helped form The Elders, an independent group of global leaders working together for peace, justice and human rights. His unflagging commitment to promoting peace throughout the world was formally recognised by US President Barack Obama in 2009, who bestowed on him the country’s highest civilian honour: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In May 2013, the Archbishop announced that he would no longer vote for the ANC, saying that while the party was ‘very good at leading us in the struggle to be free from oppression’, it had done a ‘poor job in countering inequality, violence, and corruption in South Africa.’ He also denounced the memorials held for Mandela after the President’s death in December 2013, saying they had given too much prominence to the ANC, that Afrikaners had been marginalised from them and that he believed Mandela would have been appalled by this.

Also in 2013, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation was established, its mission to use Desmond and Leah Tutu’s ‘rich archival heritage to promote learning, leadership and dialogue through research and development, archival digitisation, museum design and curation and programmes and events.’

To carry forward the work of the Arch, his foundation has launched the 90@90 campaign, to raise R90 million by 6 October 2022. People may support this by going to https://tutu.org.za/getinvolved and donating amounts such as R90, R900 or R9000.

Outspoken as ever, the 90-year-old continues to criticise the South African government over the loss of its moral compass and publicly condemns immoral behaviour throughout the world. He has also never wavered from his commitment to building ‘trust, compassion and peace, not only in South Africa, but globally’.