Mamphela Ramphele and Barney Pityana to manage Tutu’s legacy

Anglican archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah Tutu have established a trust to represent them and manage their personal affairs now and in perpetuity.

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust will be managed by a board led by Mamphela Ramphele and Barney Pityana, who have been closely associated with the Tutus for decades, Tutu’s office said on Thursday.

Pityana is a human-rights activist and academic who studied law and Anglican ministry, served on the SA Human Rights Commission and formerly served as vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa. Ramphele is a political activist, businesswoman, former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town and past MD of the World Bank.

The other trustees are Bishop Margaret Vertue (ordained as one of the first woman priests in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa); Eleanor du Plooy (dialogue facilitator, researcher and trainer at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation); and Advocate Ncumisa Mayosi (a Masters graduate of University College London who practises at the Cape Bar).

The trust will work closely with the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, which develops programmes consistent with the couple’s values.

“As the guardian, repository and custodian of intellectual property and intellectual property rights associated with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Mrs Nomalizo Leah Tutu, and their legacy, among the trust’s key objectives is the development of a global one-stop multimedia archive of materials and artefacts relating to the founders.

“When complete, the collection will be an invaluable resource for scholarly pursuit and for the maintenance of the archbishop’s wisdom in public thought, for posterity,” the statement read.

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