Archbishop Desmond Tutu: A Beacon for Humanity and a Fighter for Justice (Collins Chabane Foundation Pays Tribute)

     “Just call me Arch”, read the inscriptions on the t-shirts he wore during defiance campaigns when he was not in his famous pink cassock. He was the people’s bishop who was always in the frontline. He took a stand against apartheid when he left teaching as a protest when the National Party (NP) government introduced key pillars of the apartheid system, namely, the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949), Population Registration Act (1950), Group Areas Act (1950) and Bantu Education Act (1953).

He became a leading opponent of the apartheid rule as a leader of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), which had declared: “unity of all people is the will of God and that separation is the most complete refusal of the truth”. They challenged apartheid apologists who were combing through the bible to find its justification as a supposed will of God. He participated in mass mobilization and building international solidarity, whilst giving practical and moral support to underground activists, the arrested, and those on death row. He campaigned for the unbanning of the liberation movement, the release of prisoners, and the return of exiles.

He crisscrossed all continents of the world campaigning for apartheid South Africa to be isolated, sanctions to be imposed, and requested practical support for victims of apartheid. He would make impassioned calls for freedom everywhere, in churches, in defiance campaign marches and funerals of activists who were killed by apartheid. He called for our white compatriots to refuse to serve in the apartheid army. He was the patron of the United Democratic Movement (UDF) and a member of the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM).

He chose peace but was not a pacifist. The SACC made it clear in the Lusaka Statement: “While remaining committed to peaceful change we recognize that the nature of the South African regime which wages war on its own inhabitants and neighbors compels the (liberation) movements to the use of force along with other means to end oppression”. The SACC would dispatch its members throughout the country to arrange lawyers for arrested activists, seeking medical treatment for the injured, supporting distraught family members who were not spared torture by the apartheid forces.

In return, the apartheid government regarded arrests, torture, poisoning, assassinations, and bombings as par for the course when dealing with the SACC and its leaders. Despite these they never abandoned the struggle, insisting on their pastoral duties and the truth of unity for God’s people. When the oppressed turned against one another he opposed it and counseled for humanity to prevail.

The Arch said until the leaders of the people are released from Robben Island and some were allowed to return from exile he would stay the course. Most importantly, despite his impassioned speeches that stirred the masses to action he kept the moral bar of struggle high. He belonged to the generation of OR Tambo that wanted state power as a weapon of struggle in the hands of the oppressed, for the vote alone, though necessary would not be sufficient to achieve liberation. When the oppressed regained their leaders he left the political scene, preferring to mend our broken seams of unity. His faith made him genuinely believe in atonement and healing through forgiveness.

Collins Chabane Foundation would like to send heartfelt condolences to Archbishop Tutu’s wife and family, the SACC and the church, the people of South Africa, and the world who mourn the loss of such a patriot and a servant of God.

You stayed the course Arch. Now is the time to rest.