PROFILE: Infectious laugh and strong moral fibre — Desmond Tutu served as the Rainbow Nation’s conscience

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

This advice by Archbishop Desmond Tutu — or the “Arch” as he was fondly known — epitomised the life of the man himself who many came to regard as the moral conscience of the nation.

A man who wanted to be a doctor but instead ended up as a cleric and social rights activist, for which role he would become the country’s second Nobel peace laureate in 1984 after the ANC leader Chief Albert Luthuli, who was awarded the prize in 1960.

Born in Klerksdorp on October 7, 1931, Desmond Mpilo Tutu, shot to international fame in the 1980s as an outspoken and fearless opponent of apartheid, which he frequently likened to Nazism.

He was very much at the forefront of the sanctions campaign against SA, which gained momentum after the 1976 Soweto student uprisings. A vigorous opponent of the so-called “constructive engagement” policy of the Reagan administration in the US, which advocated “friendly persuasion”, Tutu preferred a policy of disinvestment.

While a fierce and brave critic of apartheid and the strong-arm tactics employed by the regime, abhorring all forms of violence he was equally opposed to the notorious township necklacings — famously even risking his own life in July 1985 to save a suspected police informer from being burnt alive by an angry black mob after a funeral in Duduza on Johannesburg’s East Rand.

Stories about the diminutive prelate in his purple cassock pulling the half-conscious, badly bleeding man to safety, while surrounded by frenzied youths chanting “Kill him, kill him!” and “Burn him, burn him!”, made headline news around the globe.

As the victim was driven away, Tutu returned to lecture the youths on “the need to use righteous and just means for a righteous and just struggle”.

Credited with coining the term Rainbow Nation for a postapartheid SA, Tutu remained an avid and tireless human rights defender after the demise of apartheid, capitalising on his high profile to campaign against corruption, poverty, xenophobia, sexism and homophobia, among other issues, and to raise awareness for illnesses such as HIV/Aids and tuberculosis.

He was also outspoken about the post-liberation ANC, declaring in 2013 that he would no longer be able to vote for the organisation, citing inequality, violence and corruption.

Renowned for his cheerful disposition and infectious laughter, Tutu, who publicly wept on occasion during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings, was visibly angry when the government refused to grant a visa to his good friend the Dalai Lama to attend his 80th birthday celebration and a subsequent Nobel Peace Summit in the country. He accused the government of “kowtowing to China”.

The archbishop was also vocal in his criticism of human rights abuses in neighbouring Zimbabwe and South Africa’s official silence on the issue.

The first black Archbishop of Cape Town and bishop of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa), Tutu received many international accolades during his long and illustrious life, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986; the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987; the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999; the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. These awards flowed late into his retirement, the most recent being a Lifetime Achievement Award for services to the LGBTI+ community from Outreach Africa in February 2020 and on December 10 2020, the Human Rights Global Treasure Award.

Initially trained as a teacher after leaving school, he began studying theology after having taught at a high school for three years and was ordained as a priest in 1960. He continued his studies in England, culminating in a Master of Theology degree in 1966.

In 1975 he was appointed Dean of St Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first black person to hold that position. From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho, and in 1978 became the first black general secretary of the South African Council of Churches.

After the fall of apartheid, Tutu headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He retired as Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996 after serving in that capacity for 10 years, and was made emeritus Archbishop of Cape Town, an honorary title that is unusual in the Anglican church.

In 1997, Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent successful treatment in the US. He was readmitted to hospital at various times thereafter to address the cause of recurring infections. Nevertheless, he remained in good spirits.

In recent years, he reveled in the Springboks rugby world cup win. In the month before the team lifted the cup in November 2019, he sent them this message: “Your dignity, diversity and courage are infectious. You have restored South African rugby’s pride, and made us all feel good about ourselves.” After meeting the team in Cape Town on November 11 that year, Tutu said: “What this group of youngsters has achieved speaks, beyond rugby, to the possibility of what we can be. No matter where we come from, if we reach for the stars we can actually touch them.”

In September 2019, the world got its first proper look at Prince Harry and Meghan's baby son when the pair relished their meeting with Tutu in Cape Town, a photograph of  which they shared on their official Instagram as “Arch, meet Archie.”

His social conscience remained as strong as ever. In mid-December 2019, the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation spoke of their concern following a spike in high-profile gang assassinations in Cape Town, culminating in the killing of notorious gang boss Rashied Staggie. The foundation reiterated a previous call by Tutu that while short-term stability could be provided by professional intelligence-gathering and law-enforcement to curb the endemic gangsterism on the Cape Flats, all elected leaders should “use the resources they have at their collective disposal to deliver an environment in which poorer citizens have the opportunities to improve themselves and their circumstances.”

Tutu is survived by Leah. They met while at college, and shared four children.

Their only son, Trevor Tutu, is the eldest child. He was named after Tutu’s mentor and fellow apartheid activist Trevor Huddleston. Their eldest daughter is Theresa Thandi Tutu, who leads a largely private life. Naomi Tutu studied in the US where she also started a foundation to provide scholarships and other help to South African refugees. Mpho Tutu, their youngest daughter, followed in her father’s footsteps by becoming a cleric and champion of human rights issues. In 2010, she co-wrote a book with her father called Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference.

In interviews given at the time, the Arch said the book was his answer to two questions routinely directed at him: “How can you be so hopeful after witnessing so much evil?” and “Why are you so sure goodness will triumph in the end?”

It is a fitting epitaph for a holy and heroic life.

In his own words then: “The catalogue of injuries that we can and do inflict on one another is not the whole story of humanity, not by a long measure — as I hope you will see and as you no doubt know in your heart.

“We are fundamentally good. When you come to think of it, that's who we are at our core. Why else do we get so outraged by wrong? When we hear of any egregious act, we are appalled. Isn't that an incredible assertion about us? Evil and wrong are aberrations ... The norm is goodness.”

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