Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has long been hailed as a hero in South Africa — not only for his criticism of the apartheid government but for his ongoing outspokenness, even against the ANC government, in an attempt to promote peace and justice.
Although October 7 2010 marked his official retirement from public life, he continues to have an active voice throughout the world.
In a life marred with difficulty and challenge Tutu never failed to rise above his circumstances.
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born in Klerksdorp to a domestic worker mom and a teacher father on October 7 1931.
The family moved to Johannesburg when he was 12. He matriculated from the Johannesburg Bantu High School in 1950 and completed a teaching diploma at Pretoria Bantu Normal College in 1953. Although he had wanted to study medicine, Tutu’s parents could not afford it.
The Bantu Education Act of 1953 lowered the level of education for black students but Tutu was not satisfied about teaching at a lower standard and decided to enter the priesthood instead, feeling that it would be a better way to serve and teach his people.
In 1958 he enrolled at the Anglican St Peter’s Theological College to do his training and in 1961 he was ordained. In 1955 he married Leah Shenxane. They have four children, all of whom were schooled in Swaziland.
Tutu furthered his education in England at King’s College and obtained a bachelor of divinity and a master’s in theology there.
Returning home
In the late 1960s Tutu returned to South Africa to lecture at the Federal Theological Seminary and to serve as chaplain at the University of Fort Hare. In the early 1970s he lectured in theology at Roma University in Lesotho.
In 1975 Tutu was the first black person to be appointed Dean of St Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg.
It was in this position that he started to make his voice heard about the atrocities of apartheid. In 1976 Tutu was made Bishop of Lesotho and in 1978 general secretary of the South African Council of Churches.
Again, he was the first black person to fill this position and drew international attention for criticising apartheid and the government. In response to his opposition the government cancelled his passport.
Tutu’s political activism increased when he became one of the United Democratic Front’s key spokesmen in 1983.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for using peaceful means in the struggle against apartheid. The apartheid government would not recognise the award.
In his presentation speech Egil Aarvik, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee, said of Tutu: “Although he never learned to hate, none has opposed injustice with a more burning anger. Courageous and fearless he opposes his country’s authorities.”
This was to remain true of Tutu throughout his career and under different governments, even the ANC, which he had supported vehemently.
First time for everything
In 1985 Tutu became the first black Anglican bishop in Johannesburg and in 1986 the first black archbishop of Cape Town and head of the Church of the Province South Africa (the Anglican church), which allowed him to take his political activism even further.
In 1995 after the first democratic elections that brought the ANC government to power, Tutu was elected chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which would determine whether to grant amnesty to perpetrators of human rights abuses during the apartheid era.
In June 1996 Tutu retired as archbishop to focus on the TRC. He was granted the honorary title of archbishop emeritus.
In 1998 Tutu stepped down as the TRC’s chairperson and started the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust with his wife, Leah. The aim of the trust is to establish a non-denominational peace centre. It will be a six-star green-rated building in Cape Town and serve as a home for those who promote world peace.
In the early 2000s Tutu became more outspoken on matters of peace internationally, criticising the Zimbabwean political regime of Robert Mugabe. He not only voiced his unflattering opinions of Zimbabwe but also spoke about the situation in Israel, going as far as to compare the plight of the Palestinians with those of the black people under apartheid.
In 2003 he criticised the United States and Britain for their involvement in Iraq. Tutu called for the world to strive for compassion and caring in the hope of creating a more moral, peaceful world.
In 2004 he opposed the South African government and supported the rights of victims of apartheid to lodge compensation claims against US companies which had not withdrawn from South Africa during the period of sanctions. Unlike the government of the time, Tutu did not believe that these lawsuits would deter foreign investors in the future.
Never voiceless
Perhaps his most admirable trait is his courage to in pushing for the promotion of peace regardless of which government he might offend. In 2004 he criticised the much-debated black economic empowerment policy of the South African government, saying that it was building up resentment which he believed they would rue later.
He and then-president Thabo Mbeki did not always see eye to eye, sometimes even falling out in public.
In 2007 he harshly criticised the government’s HIV/Aids policy and how it was dealing with the epidemic. In the same year he was presented with India’s highest honour, the International Gandhi Peace Prize.
In 2007 he launched the Tutu Foundation United Kingdom while travelling abroad to investigate the Israel-Pakistane situation in an attempt to put an end to what he called gross human rights violations.
The year 2010 was his last as a public figure — he officially retired on his birthday, October 7. At 79, he has said that he wants time to do the things he really wants to do — to spend time with his wife and family.