Self-serving ANC, war, homophobia — social issues that got Tutu hot under the collar

Known for his role as a social activist, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu never shied away from speaking out on topical issues in politics and society and in his church.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner criticised as “sycophantic” the ANC under former president Thabo Mbeki.

He slammed the war in Iraq as an act of injustice and said Zimbabwe's late president Robert Mugabe had “gone bonkers”.

He was hailed as a voice for the voiceless at a service held at St Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg in July 2016 by his close friend‚ Rev Barney Pityana.

“I can barely put it better‚ I think‚ than late President Nelson Mandela did when he paid tribute to Archbishop Desmond — 'sometimes strident,' he said‚ 'often tender‚ never afraid and seldom without humour'," Pityana said.

“Desmond Tutu's voice will always be the voice of the voiceless.”

His foundation, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, was among those calling  for a judicial commission of inquiry into the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). This came amid a backlash against the broadcaster's former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng following his decision that violent protests should not be covered on SABC news programmes, and allegations of political interference.

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”.

“Our government is worse than the apartheid government because at least you were expecting it from the apartheid government,” Tutu said at a news conference on the government's failure to grant Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama a visa to come to the country.

“The trouble is that the ANC on the whole reckons the freedom we enjoy is due to them. They reckon everyone else is just a sideline,” said Tutu.

In 2013 Tutu was quoted as saying he would not vote for the “ANC of today”.

“We really need a change. The ANC was very good at leading us in the struggle to be free from oppression. They were a good freedom-fighting unit. But it doesn't seem to me now that a freedom-fighting unit can easily make the transition to becoming a political party,” Tutu said.

He  has also lashed out at the Anglican Church for its “obsession” with homosexuality.

While SA has legalised same-sex marriage, the Anglican Church believes a marriage is between a man and a woman.

Tutu's daughter, Rev Canon Mpho Tutu, quit her job after her licence to preach was revoked. This was after she married her same-sex partner Marceline Tutu-Van Furth in May 2016.

“I would not worship a God who is homophobic, and that is how deeply I feel about this. I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level,” Tutu said on his foundation's website.

In 2018, subsequent to an opinion he had voiced two years earlier, the cleric expressed support for euthanasia. Tutu called on lawmakers to factor in the rights of terminally ill patients who wanted dignity in death.

“Just as I have argued for compassion and fairness in life‚ I believe that terminally ill people should be treated with compassion and fairness when it comes to their death‚” Tutu said.

“This should include affording people who have reached the end stages of life the right to choose how and when to leave Mother Earth.”

Tutu said he believed in the sanctity of life and that “death is part of life”.

“Alongside the wonderful palliative care that exists‚ the choices available to the terminally ill should include dignified assisted death. It is a choice that I believe lawmakers should engage‚ enable and appropriately regulate.”

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