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Desmond Tutu took the lead as a clergyman who criticized the rule of white minorities in South Africa and did not criticize the post-apartheid African National Congress (ANC) authorities for not giving in to poor black people.
But 90-year-old Tutu, who died on Sunday In Cape Town, after a long battle with prostate cancer and infections, he spread his reproach beyond the borders of South Africa, often softening his blows with humor and warmth.
Israel condemned the treatment of the Palestinians, the US condemned the Iraq war and the atrocities within its church. The search for peace led to Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Kenya.
“It was a moral compass for South Africa, a thorn in the side of apartheid government because of its great inequalities, and also a post-apartheid government that defended it for corruption and comfort with China,” said researcher Scott Firsing. He worked in South Africa, he told Al Jazeera.
“He was a complete idealist, always in favor of justice, even if it was difficult. He, along with Nelson Mandela, was a giant during the turbulent changes. Now that they’re gone, it’s hard to see where South Africa will go in search of a voice guide. “
Tutu was born in 1931 in a gold mining town on the Transvaal, in Klerksdorp, with Zachariah, a teacher, and Aletta, a domestic servant. He initially followed in his father’s footsteps in teaching, but resigned to protest the government’s restrictions on the schooling of black children.
Influenced by Bishop Trevor Huddleston and other anti-apartheid white clergymen, he became a priest in 1961 and the first black Anglican dean of Johannesburg in 1975.
While Mandela was in prison, it was up to Tutu and others to campaign for change. While police violently suppressed black student protests in Soweto in 1976, Tutu argued that the white minority government was racist, condemned, and defying God’s will.
His “clear vision and fearless attitude”, which made him a “unifying symbol of all African freedom fighters”, won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, according to the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
Despite his low stature, Tutu was a giant in South African politics, notable for his impetus, his contagious laughter, and his outspoken criticism of the absurdity of apartheid. In one example, he told his followers, “Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.”
“It was Martin Luther King of South Africa, a non-violent Christian clergyman who worked for racial justice and equality,” Steven Gish, author of a biography on Tutu, told Al Jazeera. “He never hated his oppressors and always believed in dialogue and in attracting people’s moral conscience.”
He was elected Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986 and continued to oppose the white minority rule, welcoming President FW de Klerk’s liberalization efforts in 1989, such as the release of Mandela and the lifting of the anti-ANC ban.
In February 1990, Tutu Mandela, a longtime friend, was taken to a balcony of Cape Town Hall, where the ANC leader made his first speech to the square after a 27-year political imprisonment.
“He was one of the real heroes of our time – a great, dedicated preacher with a contagious sense of humor,” said John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador and author of the book Morning in South Africa.
“It was this strange kind of person who, in order to serve for good, had retreated from the great political upheaval that had arisen when South Africa passed into democracy.”
Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutuk participated in an open-air Christian community service in Soweto on May 8, 1994. [File: Desmond Boylan/Reuters]In November 1995, then-President Mandela called on Tuturi to chair the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and gather evidence on apartheid crimes and to recommend that those who confessed their sins should receive amnesty.
At the end of the interrogation, many former white South African leaders were accused of lying to the commission. According to Tutu, however, the goal was more than “retributive” justice and “community harmony” according to Ubuntu’s South African principle.
Thus, Tutu was criticized for being too soft on black activists who fought violence against apartheid, such as Winnie Mandela, and for governing the black majority for decades for not doing enough to punish whites.
The democratic rule of South Africa was not the end of the “Arc”, as it was known. The father of four children, who married Leah in 1955, was criticized by the Pretoria ANC leader for riding on a “salsa train” of privileges while others were living in poverty.
He described Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a “cartoon figure” who turned his country into a “basket case” and criticized South Africa for being too soft on him. In 2011, he again censored his country for disrespecting China for not granting visas to the Dalai Lama.
Tutu moved more and more to global issues. He was instrumental in calming the political violence he swallowed in Kenya after the disputed 2007 elections, focusing on a power-sharing deal between opposition leaders Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.
In 2007, he joined a newly formed group of adult statesmen called The Elders, along with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, Mary Robinson, and others. That same year, he led the group on his first mission to Darfur in Sudan.
The following year, he traveled to the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where he began talks with Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders. There, he encouraged people from both camps to support the mediation process.
It frustrated Israeli feathers by comparing Palestinians’ treatment of apartheid in South Africa. Former US President George W Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair have been asked to admit that they were wrong about the “immoral” war in Iraq.
He even looked inward to critique the church he had served for decades. Among the clashes over the ordination of homosexual bishops in the Anglican Church, the clergyman criticized the “obsession” with homosexuality that is taking away the fight against poverty.
According to Clive Conway, President of the Tutu Foundation UK, the Ubuntu principles underlying Tutu’s philosophy proved their worth when applied “everywhere in struggling communities”.
“Arch was brave, incorruptible and authoritarian. We all learned not only against apartheid, but also from the style of peaceful mediation that operated in Gaza, Sierra Leone and abroad, ”Conway told Al Jazeera.
“For us, bringing together members of the London gang and the police or the leaders of Protestant paramilitary groups in Belfast at the same table to understand the dependence on human beings has led to a change in their lives.”
Tuturi was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and has been hospitalized several times in recent years to treat cancer-related infections.
He celebrated his 90th birthday on October 7 this year with a strange public appearance at a special Thanksgiving service at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tutu’s death on Sunday “is another chapter in our mourning for a generation of great South Africans who left us liberated South Africa.”
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