Desmond Tutu, the smiling bishop from South Africa, has gained friends and admirers around the world, thanks to his wild personality.
As a prominent black cleric, he had to become involved in the struggle against the apartheid regime, but he always insisted that his motives were religious, not political.
The late President Nelson Mandela appointed him head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was formed to investigate crimes committed by both sides of the conflict in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 in a small town mostly occupied by gold mines in the Transvaal.
He initially followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a teacher, but he left that profession after the Bantu Education Law came into effect in 1953, which introduced racial segregation in schools.
Desmond Tutu joined the church, and was greatly influenced by many white clergy in South Africa, in particular the staunch opponent of apartheid, Bishop Trevor Huddleston.
Toto (right) with a group of teachers at Pretoria Bantu Regular College:
After being ordained as a priest in the church, Tutu obtained degrees in theology and psychology from a university in London, and worked for a period in two churches in southeast England.
Following a stint working for the World Ecclesiastical Council in Britain, Tutu became the first black rector of the Anglican Church in Johannesburg in 1975.
He also served as bishop of Lesotho between 1976 and 1978, assistant to the bishop of Johannesburg, and head of a diocese in the suburb of Soweto before his appointment as bishop of Johannesburg.
Desmond Tutu began raising his voice against injustice in South Africa when he was Rector of the Anglican Church in Johannesburg, and then when he became General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches in 1977.
Although he was a well-known figure before the outbreak of the 1976 uprising in black towns, Tutu was not known to the white community in South Africa as a fighter for reform until a few months before the outbreak of violence in Soweto.
Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his efforts to confront the apartheid regime, in a move that was considered a major insult by the international community to South Africa's white rulers.
Tutu's inauguration ceremony as Archbishop of Johannesburg was attended by international religious figures, including former Bishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, and the widow of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
After becoming the leader of the Anglican Church in South Africa, Tutu continued his effective confrontation with the apartheid regime. In March 1988, he said, “We refuse to be treated as a doormat on which the government wipes its shoes.”
Desmond Tutu used to visit black towns in South Africa:
Six months later, Desmond Tutu risked prison by calling for a boycott of local elections. He was also poisoned with tear gas in August 1989, when police confronted a group emerging from a church in a black town near Cape Town. The following month, he was arrested after refusing to leave. Banned demonstration.
His calls to impose sanctions on South Africa, after he became archbishop, received support from all over the world, especially since these calls were accompanied by a strong condemnation of all acts of violence.
Desmond Tutu warmly welcomed the liberal reforms announced by South African President De Klerk shortly after taking office, which included lifting the ban on the African National Congress and releasing Nelson Mandela.
Shortly after, Desmond Tutu announced a ban on clergy joining political parties, a decision condemned by other churches. Later in 1990, he attempted to mediate differences between the ANC and the Inkatha movement led by Zulu elder Gacha Buthelezi.
Desmond Tutu has never been afraid to speak out. In April 1989, during a visit to Birmingham, England, he criticized what he described as “two-nation Britain” and said that British prisons were full of black inmates.
He also angered the Israelis when, during a visit, he compared black Africans in South Africa to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Tutu said that he could not understand how a people who suffered as much as the Jews could impose this amount of suffering on the Palestinian people.
Desmond Tutu was poisoned with tear gas in August 1989, when police confronted a group leaving a church in a black town near Cape Town.
Desmond Tutu was a great admirer of Nelson Mandela, but he did not always agree with him, especially regarding the permissibility of using violence to achieve a just goal.
In November 1995, Mandela, then president of South Africa, asked Tutu to chair a truth and reconciliation commission tasked with searching for evidence of apartheid-era crimes and making recommendations on whether those who admitted involvement should be pardoned. Crimes.
At the end of the committee's work, Tutu attacked former white South African leaders, saying that most of them had lied to the committee.
Although the government accepted the report issued by the committee, many criticized it, claiming that it did not achieve the goals for which it was formed.
Tutu, for example, was accused of being lenient with Mandela's first wife Winnie, who was facing serious charges including involvement in murder.
But he was always affected by the pain of victims of violence, and was seen more than once crying during committee sessions.
Images source: Getty Images
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