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The late Arch-Bishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of the South African Anglican Communion, who transited to the great beyond on December 26, 2021 at the ripe age of 90, was an avowed enemy of Marxism due to its atheism, although he acceded in thoughts, words, and deeds to the often-misconstrued Marxian saying: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the masses.”
Faced with the evil of apartheid, many South African blacks, including a young Desmond Tutu, sought solace in religion as they prayed for divine intervention in their miserable condition. It mattered little to them that Afrikaner-based religious organizations, like the Dutch Reformed Church, saw whites as God’s chosen people, and blacks as inferior beings doomed to a life of subservience.
In 1956, at the age of 25, Tutu, whose life-ambition revolved around teaching, was compelled to quit his beloved profession for a life of religious service as he was confronted with the harsh realities of the South African apartheid system institutionalized in 1948, even though its practice dated as far back as the onset of Dutch (Afrikaner) colonialism in the 17th century.
Two years earlier, in 1953, the apartheid regime segregated educational facilities through the “Bantu Education Act,” restricting blacks to educational opportunities it deemed suitable for their societal role of “providers of unskilled labour.” Realizing the hopelessness of furthering his educational career, Tutu veered into the field of religion by enrolling for priesthood training at an Anglican Community college in January 1956. Thus began an ecclesiastic life that saw him blend Christian theology with non-violent anti-apartheid activism and general human rights advocacy.
In March 1976, about 20 years after joining the Anglican Communion, Tutu attained the position of the Bishop of Lesotho, and in February 1985, he became the Bishop of Johannesburg. Subsequently, he was crowned the Arch-Bishop of Cape Town in September 1986. Exploiting the domestic and international opportunities offered by these positions, he inveighed against his country’s obnoxious apartheid system, albeit non-violently. Significantly, his non-violent activism set him apart from compatriots like Nelson Mandela, the icon of the anti-apartheid struggle.
Mandela’s 27-year jail-time was a testament to his uncompromising stance on the imperative of a violent struggle against apartheid rule. In his autobiography, “Long Walk To Freedom,” he noted: “We had no alternative to armed and violent resistance. Over and over again, we had used all non-violent weapons in our arsenal – speeches, deputations, threats, marches, strikes, stay-ways, voluntary imprisonment – all to no avail, for whatever we did was met by an iron hand. A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor. At a certain point, one can only fight fire with fire.”
The success or otherwise of Tutu’s non-violent approach to the anti-apartheid struggle is a matter of conjecture. However, it was enough to secure him the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, making it the second time a South African would win it – the first being the 1960 prize won by Albert Luthuli, who was also a clergyman.
Cynical as it may be, some people have opined that the bestowal of the 1960 and 1984 Nobel Laureateship on two South African blacks for their non-violent opposition to apartheid rule (even as blacks groaned in sub-human bondage), was aimed at perpetuating a culture of slavish docility among the entire black population. And truly, some prominent black individuals willingly collaborated with the white minority regime to perpetuate the apartheid system. Chief amongst them were the so-called leaders of “Black Homelands” or “Bantustans,” whom Tutu described as “corrupt men looking after their own interests.”
In 1951, in what theologians like Tutu may refer to as Luciferian ingenuity, the apartheid regime enacted the “Bantu Authorities Act,” aimed at denying all blacks their South African citizenship. It created “Homelands” aka “Bantustans” for the country’s ten predominant ethnic groups, and all blacks were required to acquire the “citizenship” of their respective Bantustan, referred to as an “Independent nation.” In reality, the Bantustans were nothing more than sprawling ghettoes comparable to Nazi concentration camps.
Detestable as the Bantustans were, some of their so-called black leaders actively promoted them, and resisted efforts to have them dismantled in the twilight of apartheid rule. Specifically, in 1994, the duo of Oupa Gqozo of Ciskei and Lucas Mangope of Bophuthatswana had to be subdued militarily in order to reintegrate their Bantustans into the emerging multiracial South Africa. Tutu’s characterization of the apartheid collaborationist as “corrupt men” was a gross understatement. They were, as a matter of fact, self-loathing lumps of slime that had successfully aspired to human form.
Arguably, without the violent activities of anti-apartheid organizations like the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), the apartheid regime may not have seen the need for a negotiated settlement to the end of its ignoble rule. A non-violent Tutu tacitly agreed with this line of reasoning as he reportedly canvassed international support for the activities of the militant organizations.
In any case, by the time South Africa attained majority rule in 1994, with Nelson Mandela as its first democratically-elected president, it became apparent that the forces of non-violence spearheaded by Tutu had triumphed, ultimately. Hence, when President Mandela set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1995 to address the issue of apartheid-era human rights violations, Tutu was a natural choice for its chairmanship.
Chairman Tutu introduced the principle of “Ubuntu” (“humanity towards others”) to the work of the TRC. He also introduced the idea of “restorative justice” based on confession, forgiveness, and restitution. Famed for his infectious laughter, he reportedly wept over some of the human rights atrocities committed by both the apartheid regime and its opponents. And, following attempts by the ruling ANC to suppress some aspects of the commission’s report, he publicly decried its dictatorial tendencies.
Tutu was never one to shy away from public criticism of friends, associates, and foes. Among recipients of his scathing attacks was President Mandela, whom he accused of pandering to the desires of the South African military-industrial complex, and elected parliamentarians who had fixed outrageous emoluments for themselves. Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma did not fare better his hands. In 2013, he vowed not to vote for the ANC in future elections over the mounting levels of corruption being associated with the ruling party.
Expectedly, Tutu berated African autocratic leaders, likening Robert Mugabe, whose 37-year tyranny was characterized by mass-poverty, to a “caricature of an African dictator.” Elsewhere, he condemned Israel for its intransigence in the lingering Israeli-Palestinian conflict, wondering why the Jews who had suffered untold horrors in the hands of the Nazis would subject the Palestinians to similar treatment in their occupied territories. He also denounced Myanmar’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for her insensitivity to the plight of the minority Rohingya population.
Always willing to take on causes bordering on human rights and liberty, Tutu gave unalloyed support to his country’s LGBT community, thus pitting him against the conservative base of the Anglican Communion opposed to the issue. In 2007, he observed that God is “welcoming,” and not “homophobic.” He lambasted the church for its obsession with the issue of human sexuality, while neglecting more pressing ones like poverty, HIV-AIDS pandemic, conflicts, etc. “If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn’t worship that God,” he stated emphatically.
As if lending credence to Tutu’s pro-LGBT stance, his daughter, Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu, married a same-sex partner, Marceline Van Furth, in December 2015. Consequently, she was compelled to give up her Anglican priesthood. Suffice to say that her father was at the marriage ceremony in the Netherlands to bless the union.
Born on October 7, 1931, Tutu is survived by his wife, Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, and their four children. Amidst global outpouring of tributes, the apostle of non-violent liberation and human rights would be better remembered for his non-dogmatic approach to religious issues.
On December 15, 2009, Tutu told a CNN interviewer that, contrary to popular notions, not everything in the Holy Bible was correct: “You have to understand that the bible is really a library of books and it has different categories of material … There are certain parts which you have to say no to. The Bible accepted slavery. St Paul said women should not speak in church at all … There are many things that you shouldn’t accept.”
In a world of spiraling religious bigotry, where all sorts of arcane and bizarre religious doctrines are fuelling ignorance, intolerance, crime, and violence, perhaps the best legacy Arch-Bishop Tutu bequeaths to humanity is a profusion of liberation theology and unfettered liberalism.