Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be remembered as a tireless campaigner for justice. Though he officially retired in the mid-1990’s, he remained South Africa’s moral compass.
As he famously once said, “I wish I could shut up, but I can’t, and I won’t.”
The Nobel Laureate continued to advocate for social justice, gay rights and environmentalism.
The Arch have been retired for over a decade, but never stopped speaking truth to power and always held high expectations for those in the chambers of power to do better.
Tutu dedicated his life to non-racialism, equality and spoke to a deeper desire to connect with authenticity across racial, ethnic, class and gender divides.
His enthusiasm for ending oppression usually could be visible on his face – with tears and giggles, his unparalleled love for people – “abantu” – was infectious.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Tutu served as general secretary of the South African Council of Churches and he occupied a crucial role in the South African liberation movement.
He was at the forefront of marches and boycotts and he was also called upon to minister to grieving scores of funerals in the bloodiest period of the South African conflict.
In 1995 after historic elections that ushered in the African National Congress (ANC) and put Mandela into the role of president, Tutu was appointed as the chair of the country’s new Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a new entity designed as an experiment in collective healing.
Internationally the TRC was widely acclaimed for prioritising reconciliation over revenge.
After playing a key role in the fight against apartheid and leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu became a fierce critic of the ANC after the dawn of democracy.
Tutu also spoke out against the ANC government under former president Jacob Zuma’s leadership. In 2011 he said the ANC government was “worse than the apartheid government”.
Desmond Tutu, who was once snubbed by organisers of Nelson Mandela’s funeral and that caused him pain to endure omission from the 5 000-strong guest list, but later received a last minute invitation following a public outcry.
Tutu’s legacy remains to be reckoned to the epitome of “being a voice of the voiceless.”
Sources: Al-Jazeera, News24
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