/ 1 January 2002

Tutu gets 99th degree then slams SA govt

Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu on Friday received his 99th honorary degree, this time from the University of Pretoria.

A honorary doctorate from the faculty of theology was bestowed on him at the university’s spring graduation ceremony.

Tutu used to the occasion to launch a scathing attack on the government, calling on people to question it over several issues.

Tutu called on people to ask questions about the government’s controversial Aids policy, its uncertain stance on the Zimbabwean question and the spending of billions of rands on arms.

Other universities who have honoured Tutu in this way include those of Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, Aberdeen, Sydney, Cape Town, Witwatersrand and the University of South Africa.

Tutu received the Nobel Peace prize in 1984. He served as general secretary of the World Council of Churches in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

”Under his leadership the SACC developed into an important institution in the nation’s spiritual and political life, voicing the ideals and aspirations of millions of South Africans while effectively providing help to victims of apartheid,” the university said.

Tutu was elected as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town in 1986, and in 1995 then president Nelson Mandela appointed him chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

”His extraordinary morals and sense of justice, as well as his enormous contribution to peace and reconciliation was confirmed and emphasised once again by the way he handled this commission.”

The UP is also to bestow an honorary doctorate from the faculty of economic and management sciences on Andrew Young, former United States ambassador to the United Nations, on Friday night.

His other 45 honorary degrees are from universities including Yale, Notre Dame, Emory and the Georgia State University.

By bestowing the degree on Young, the UP stood to place itself among other leading institutions that recognised the talents and contributions of an exceptional man, Pistorius said.

Young was the right-hand man to Martin Luther King Junior and served three terms in Congress. The then US president Jimmy Carter appointed him as the first African-American ambassador to the United Nations. – Sapa