“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the
side of the oppressor.” These words by Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu are truly
profound and among the many sagacious sentiments expressed.
The
Nobel Peace laureate passed away on Sunday at the age of 90, stripping
the world of a towering moral figure and bringing the curtain down on a
heroic South African era.beginning a week of mourning for the revered anti-apartheid fighter.
The death of Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu leaves a big void in the
struggle for human rights and freedom around the world. He dedicated his
entire life to the fight to create a world where people could be free
to claim and exercise their freedoms, without being prejudiced or
persecuted for who they are.
Tutu is best remembered for his active involvement in the struggle
against South African apartheid, whose overthrow was one of the great
historic achievements of the twentieth century. He used his positions
first as the secretary general of the South African Council of Churches
and later as the first Black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town (hence his
nickname, ‘the Arch’) to promote non-violent opposition to apartheid.
His funeral will be held on New Year's Day at Cape Town's St George's
Cathedral, his former parish, his foundation said, although ceremonies
are likely to be muted because of Covid restrictions.
In a statement issued by the South African government, the country’s
president, Cyril Ramaphosa, confirmed the death and sent his condolences
to the Tutu family.
“The death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of
loss in our nation’s farewell to a generation of prominent South
Africans who bequeathed us a South Africa liberated“,
The president has described Tutu as a “peerless patriot“and a” man of extraordinary intellect “who maintained his integrity in the fight against the” forces of apartheid. “
Even in a democracy, Ramaphosa has stressed, Tutu maintained the “vigor” and “vigilance” of the leadership to demand responsibilities to institutions.
The widow of South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, on Monday mourned "the loss of a brother".
Tutu "is the last of an extraordinarily outstanding generation of
leaders that Africa birthed and gifted to the world", she said in a
statement.
He masterfully used his position as a cleric to mobilise South
Africans, Africans, and the global community against the brutalities and
immorality of the apartheid government," she said.
"He stood resolute and fearless, leading demonstrations cloaked in
his flowing clerical robe with his cross as his shield — the embodiment
of humankind's moral conscience."
The bells of St George's will ring for 10 minutes from noon each day
until Friday. The church has asked those who hear the sound to pause in
their daily work and think of Tutu.
A memorial service will be held in the capital Pretoria on Wednesday.
Family and friends will gather on Thursday evening around Tutu's widow,
"Mama Leah".
On Friday, his remains will be placed in the cathedral on the eve of
the funeral, although attendance for his farewell will be capped at 100,
according to the archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba.
"Only a fraction of those who want to be there can be accommodated in
the Cathedral. So please don't get on a bus to Cape Town," he said in a
statement following a press conference.
Due to Covid, singing and music at the ceremony will also have to be moderated, officials said.
Diminutive, crackling with humour and warmth, Tutu will be most
remembered for fearlessly speaking against white minority rule, although
he campaigned against injustice of any kind.
Ordained at the age of 30 and appointed archbishop in 1986, he used
his position to advocate tirelessly for international sanctions against
apartheid.
He coined the term "Rainbow Nation" to describe South Africa when Mandela became the country's first black president in 1994.
He retired in 1996 to lead a harrowing journey into South Africa's
past as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which exposed
the horrors of apartheid in terrible detail.This commission, established in 1996 to uncover human-rights abuses
during Apartheid, called on Apartheid-era perpetrators to publicly
apologise for their crimes to victims, who were given the opportunity to
share their stories. The result was that the perpetrators of some truly
heinous crimes were forgiven. The idea was that, after Apartheid, South
Africa could reconcile itself with its past and move on.
But Tutu’s embrace of both abusers and the abused, while an act of
true Christian belief, was of immense political significance. In his
book, No Future Without Forgiveness, he argued all parties who
committed abuses should be treated equally, ‘whether they had been
upholders of Apartheid or had sought to overthrow it’. He argued that
this would be fair ‘because the perpetrator’s political affiliation was
irrelevant in determining whether a certain act or offence was a gross
violation or not’. But by equating those who took up arms against
Apartheid with those who upheld it, he and the commission tarnished the
struggle against Apartheid.
Some South African activists blamed the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, for not “doing enough” to punish some
of the worst murderers of the apartheid regime. Dome killed thousands of
blacks during, and many black South Africans feel that mere
“confessions” and “expressions of regret” should not have gained
exculpation (more or less) for such brutes.
Among the apartheid
crimes most resented were those by secret security forces personnel, who
killed blacks and camouflaged their murders as “black-on-black
violence”.
Also resented was the fact that the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission remitted to an ordinary court, the trial of a
notorious white doctor (nicknamed “Dr Death”) who had specialised in
developing drugs that would kill “only blacks”. That Dr Death” (Dr
Wouter Basson) was allowed to be tried by an ordinary court, which
allowed him to exercise the rights of normal defence, and is currently
still practising medicine, has left a sour taste in the mouths of many.
But
maybe it was not Archbishop Desmond Tutu's fault so much as the fault
of the euphoric atmosphere under which blacks were tasting power in
South Africa for the first time, and were persuaded by the white-owned
media that “forgiveness” had to be “the order of the day”.
Whatever
one thinks, one must remember that Archbishop Desmond Tutu truly
believed that one must never allow oneself to “behave as one's enemy
would!”
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his central role in
the fight against apartheid, The citation read:
“The
Prize was awarded to Desmond Tutu for his role as a unifying leader
figure in the non-violent campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid
in South Africa....The means by which this campaign is conducted is of
vital importance for the whole of the continent of Africa and for the
cause of peace in the world.”.
The citation added that the Nobel
Peace Prize had been “awarded to a South African once before, in 1960,
when it was awarded to the former president of the African National
Congress, [Chief] Albert Tulip.” The 1984 award “should be seen as a
renewed recognition of the courage and heroism shown by black South
Africans in their use of peaceful methods in the struggle against
apartheid. This recognition is also directed to all who, throughout the
world, use such methods to stand in the vanguard of the campaign for
racial equality as a human right.”
It was the Committee’s wish
that the Peace Prize now awarded to Desmond Tutu “should be regarded not
only as a gesture of support to him and to the South African Council of
Churches, of which he is leader, but also to all individuals and groups
in South Africa who, with their concern for human dignity, fraternity
and democracy, incite the admiration of the world”.
Archbishop Tutu, remembered around the world for his tireless fight against injustice, was also an outspoken supporter
of the Palestinian cause, often comparing Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories to apartheid.
"I
have witnessed the systemic humiliation of Palestinian men, women and
children by members of the Israeli security forces," he told the South
African news outlet News 24 in 2014.
"Their humiliation is familiar
to all black South Africans who were corralled and harassed and insulted
and assaulted by the security forces of the apartheid government."
In an interview with Sir David Frost on the Al Jazeera English
channel in 2012, Tutu said that the situation in the occupied West Bank
was "in many instances worse" than in apartheid South Africa, referring
to Israel's construction of the West Bank separation wall and its systematic demolition of Palestinian homes
"Israeli politicians are aware that they can get away with almost
anything because the West feels guilty about what they didn't do when
the Holocaust happened," he said.
Tutu visited the Palestinian
territories several times, leading a UN fact-finding mission to
investigate an Israeli attack on the Beit Hanoun area of the Gaza Strip
which killed 19 civilians in November 2006.
He also endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS( movement once saying: "I wish I could keep quiet about the plight of Palestinians, I can't!"
While outspoken in his criticism
of Israeli violence against Palestinians, Tutu also condemned
Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, but noted that the Israeli
response to these incidents was "disproportionately brutal".
Following the Archbishop's
death, Palestinians from across the political spectrum praised him for
his long-standing advocacy of their cause.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
called Tutu "a hero for serving humanity and its causes, a fighter
against apartheid, a global human rights activist, and a defender of the
oppressed".
"The Palestinian people will
remember with loyalty and gratitude his positions in support of our
people's legitimate struggle against the occupation and its racist
policy," he said.
The Hamas movement
which controls the Gaza Strip, issued a statement saying: "Like South
Africa, Palestine has lost a true patriot, a great human rights
defender, an opponent of racism, and a staunch defender of the
Palestinian cause in many international forums and arenas."
Hanan Ashrawi,
an independent Palestinian politician and former minister who was
closely involved in early peace negotiations with Israel said on Twitter
that Tutu's "humanity and compassion were equalled only by his courage
and principled commitment in our shared struggle for justice and
freedom".
"His support for Palestine was an embrace of love and empathy," she added.
Among the millions who mourned his passing, President Cyril Ramaphosa
called Tutu a man of "extraordinary intellect, integrity and
invincibility against the forces of apartheid".
The Nelson Mandela Foundation called Tutu "an extraordinary human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd."
"He was larger than life, and for so many in South Africa and around
the world his life has been a blessing," it said in a statement.
Queen Elizabeth II, Pope Francis, French President Emmanuel Macron were among those who paid tribute to him.
Barack Obama, the United States' first black president, hailed Tutu
as a "moral compass" who was "concerned with injustice everywhere".
Tutu was "a towering global figure for peace and an inspiration to
generations across the world," said UN chief Antonio Guterres.
However Keir Starmer has been shredded for his hypocrisy in paying tribute to
human rights giant Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who wrote
"Desmond Tutu was a tower of a man,
and a leader of moral activism. He dedicated his life to tackling
injustice and standing up for the oppressed. His impact on the world
crosses borders and echoes through generations. May he rest in peace."
But if Tutu had been a Labour member, Starmer would probably have
expelled him, at least if he had the spine to do it, for comments in
support of Palestinians and of boycotts and sanctions against Israel for
its treatment of them.
Tutu, who had, earlier in his life, not been much impressed by
a Christian religion whose officials and leaders often acted in silent
concert with the racist rulers, was alerted to different approaches to
Christianity by the actions of one man, a white cleric called Trevor
Huddlestone, whom Tutu and his mother met one day whilst walking along
the streets of Johannesburg.
Huddlestone took off his hat and
smiled in greeting to Tutu's mother. In a South Africa where black women
were looked upon by whites as “inferior domestics”, Huddlestone's
unusual attitude moved Tutu greatly. So although his father was a
Methodist, it was into the Anglican Church that Tutu enlisted himself.
He eventually got appointed him to the highest Anglican position in
South Africa, Archbishop of Cape Town.
Tutu was born in
Klerksdorp, about 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg, on 7th October 1931. His
father was headteacher of a local Methodist school. Later on in life,
when Tutu was hospitalised with tuberculosis, he was pleasantly
surprised to find that one of his most regular visitors was a man he
recognised as the same Anglican priest who had taken off his hat for
Tutu's mother in the street, Father Trevor Huddlestone!
In appreciation of Trevor Huddlestone's doings,
Tutu actually named a son, Trevor, after Huddlestone. Huddlestone,
humble though he was, achieved great fame by publishing a fierce book – Naught For Your Comfort – which was
one of the first books to tell the world, in lurid detail, about the
horrors that apartheid represented to South Africa's black population.
Tutu trained initially as a teacher before anger at the inferior education system
set up for black children prompted him to become a priest. He lived for
a while in Britain.
Tutu relentlessly challenged the status quo on issues like race,
homosexuality, religious doctrine, a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, and for the shunned and
excluded victims of AIDS. Nor was he afraid to call out ANC corruption
and their reneging on promises to the Black poor and working class. President Ronald Reagan of the United States and Margaret Thatcher
of Britain were also some of the leaders he berated most often.
Bishop Tutu's proudest moment occurred when on 11 February 1990, Nelson
Mandela was released from prison, and stayed with Bishop Tutu's family
in Cape Town before making his way to Johannesburg. His relations with
Mr Mandela remained warm, though they disagreed on some important
issues, such as Nelson's divorce from Winnie Mandela.
He also gave his pioneering support for
the assisted dying movement."I do not wish to be kept alive at all costs," he said in The Washington Post in 2016."I hope I am treated with compassion and allowed to pass on to the next phase of life's journey in the manner of my choice."
The archbishop had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 and repeatedly underwent treatment. After he retired from public life he continued speak out
on social justice, freedom and human rights. In September 2012, he
called for former US president George W. Bush and former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair to be tried for their role in the Iraqi war by the
International Criminal Court. Since his retirement, Tutu has worked as a
global activist on issues pertaining to democracy, freedom and human
rights.
In his final years, his public appearances became rarer. This year, he
emerged from hospital in a wheelchair to get a Covid vaccine, waving but
not offering comment.He had been in a weakened state for several months and died
peacefully at 7am (0500 GMT) on Sunday, according to several of his
relatives.
Tutu was a true hero. His courage, particularly during the turbulent
struggle against Apartheid, should be acknowledged and exalted. He was
an exemplar of his Christian faith and of the human spirit. He acted as a
moral compass in the face of man’s inhumanity to man. Despite facing
immense personal risk, he defiantly and consistently gave a voice to the
voiceless and spoke truth to power.
What makes Tutu’s death so poignant is that his quest for justice and
human dignity ultimately ended in failure. Apartheid might be gone, but
greed, corruption and inequality are worse problems in today’s South
Africa than in the darkest days of white-minority rule.
Despite this Desmond Tutu should be remembered for is his faith
and his trust in ordinary people. He was a man who firmly identified
with ordinary people, rather than those who falsely claimed to represent
them. ‘The resilience of those we arrogantly dismissed as “the ordinary
people”‘, he wrote in No Future Without Forgiveness, ‘in the
face of daunting challenges and harassment that would have been the
undoing of lesser mortals, was in the end quite breathtaking’.
Desmond Tutu’s great gift to the ordinary people he loved was his
willingness to speak truth to power, whatever the consequences. His
unshakeable belief in the power of ideas and the human spirit,
especially the will to overcome oppression and adversity, should remind
us that there are some things worth living and dying for. With Tutu’s
passing, South Africa and humanity have lost a much-needed moral
compass. He will be mourned across Africa and the world.This iconic priest leaves behind indelible footprints in the sands of time, a man of deep principle and moral ardor.
Along with his words of wisdom were actions of compassion and kindness.
One of his many quotes may be the manual for a better world, "Do your
little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put
together that overwhelm the world." Rest in Peace Desmond Tutu
