South Africa: Archbishop Tutu became a ‘political leader’ by default, says Archbishop Buti. - Vatican News

Paul Samasumo – Vatican City.

“I was once a student of Desmond Tutu at the university in Lesotho. I then worked briefly with him at the South African Council of Churches … I was always present when, for over a decade, he spoke each year at the Regina Mundi (Catholic parish in Soweto) on June 16 … So, I have observed him closely,” reminisces the Catholic Archbishop of Johannesburg, Buti Joseph Tlhagale, O.M.I.

Archbishop Buti was speaking in an interview with Vatican News collaborator Sheila Pires, on Monday -the day South Africans began a week of mourning Tutu, the anti-Apartheid icon and first Black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.

Took on the leadership mantle

According to Buti, Archbishop Desmond Tutu emerged as a leader when he was General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches between the years 1978 to 1985.

“Desmond Tutu describes himself as a leader by default when most political organisations had been banned, (Black) leaders thrown in prison. There was a huge political vacuum in the country and that’s when Archbishop Tutu emerged … From then onwards, he put on the mantle of being a ‘political leader,’ as it were: Very visible in the country, opposing the Apartheid regime,” said Archbishop Buti.

Calling for sanctions

Archbishop Tutu was not only confrontational with the regime. He constantly engaged government officials directly to talk to them about the suffering of the ordinary people, especially those in the Bantustans.

The Bantustans, also known as Bantu homelands for Africans, were “native reserves” organised, by the Apartheid government, based on ethnic and linguistic groupings. In effect, they were impoverished and overpopulated rural areas put together for purposes of segregation.

“He (Archbishop Tutu) was different. I have actually not been able to figure this out. He confronted Apartheid government officials directly even when they, no doubt, looked down on him,” said Archbishop Buti. Buti explained that Apartheid leaders condescendingly looked down on almost all non white persons. 

Archbishop Tutu was not deterred. He continued to speak out about the plight of the majority and “increasingly became a spokesperson of the Black people, oppressed people, overseas -especially in North America,” said the prelate of Johannesburg.

Tutu’s call and support for sanctions against South Africa was heavily criticised in the country. It was seen by the Apartheid government as a betrayal and treason.

An inconvenient peacemaker

Apart from his forthright voice against Apartheid, Archbishop Tutu was never afraid to take on unpopular positions such as against necklacing, a gruesome form of mob justice used by Black communities during Apartheid, to punish suspected spies and perceived collaborators of the government.

“Archbishop Tutu intervened and calmed local Black communities when they wanted to necklace those who were considered collaborators. Some in the communities did not like that peacemaking role of Archbishop Tutu,” remarked Archbishop Buti.

Forgiveness as the way forward

As chairperson of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Archbishop Tutu was tasked with reviewing crimes committed during Apartheid.

The Commission is an emotive and controversial topic to this day in South Africa. Some in South Africa think that the Commission fell short of expectations. By the end of the Commission’s mandate, many in the former Apartheid regime received amnesty. Yet some Apartheid generals and commanders are said to have avoided the Commission and have never been made accountable. Some blame Archbishop Tutu for this.

“Many criticise the Commission saying perpetrators got off scot-free. But that was the nature of the deal. That if you came forward, you would be forgiven but if you didn’t, you would be pursued and imprisoned … so there is a lot of unhappiness about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” stated Archbishop Buti.

A deeply contented person

In a nutshell, Archbishop Buti describes Archbishop Tutu “as someone who followed his thought. A convincing leader. A deeply contented person even in the midst of so much pain. He was jolly. An emotional person who was not afraid to cry in public. A very noble person … someone who lived for the purpose of giving hope to others,” concluded Archbishop Buti.

26/12/2021

28/12/2021

Archbishop Tutu ‘a beacon of truth and freedom’ for the world

New Year’s Day funeral

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s funeral is set for 10am on Saturday, New Year’s Day, in Cape Town’s Anglican Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr.

Due to covid-19 restrictions, the Funeral Mass will be limited to 100 persons only. The Archbishop’s remains will be cremated, and his ashes interred at the Cathedral.

The pope asks the Vatican media who reads their news

Pope Francis called on Vatican media officials to justify their work by asking how many people read their news at all. Francis asked this during a visit to the Media and Public Relations Office, which costs the Holy See more than all its embassies around the world. The pope visited the Dicastero per la Comunicazione on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Vatican Radio and the 160th anniversary of the Vatican newspaper L’Oservatore Romano. Faced with a major pension shortfall and a projected Vatican deficit of 50m euros this year, Pope Francis has ordered a three to 10 percent pay cut for senior Vatican officials and suspended two-year seniority bonuses.

The Holy Father has vowed not to fire anyone to make up for the loss of the financial crisis as a result of the pandemic, which affected one of the Vatican’s main sources of income – ticket sales for Vatican museums. But in a sort of warning to Vatican communications staff, he began his unannounced remarks with the question: “There are many reasons for concern about radio, the newspaper, but one thing touches my heart: How many people listen to radio?” How many people read L’Osservatore Romano? ”The pope asks. He said that they work well, their offices are nice and organized, but there is a “danger” that the result of their work will not go where it should. He warned them not to fall victim to “deadly” functionality – when they do everything they need to do, but they really don’t achieve anything.

The question of the relationship between the costs and benefits of the Vatican’s media operations has been raised many times, as the communications service spends more on the Holy See’s annual budget than any other department. According to the latest figures, the Dicastero per la Comunicazione has a budget of € 43 million for 2021, which is about 20 percent of the Vatican’s total budget. The cost of the service is higher than the total cost of ten other Vatican departments. The Vatican has long justified these costs because communication operations are paramount to the Holy See’s core mission: to spread the Catholic faith throughout the world.

The head of this service, Paolo Rufini, said he understood the pope’s words as an invitation to a creative vision for the future, although he acknowledged the harsh media reality today. He recalled that Francis had told officials to “let reality slap them” and that the comment was a kind of call to wake up. Vatican Radio broadcasts 1,000 radio networks around the world in various languages. L’Oservatore Romano says 21,500 readers read it every day through the print and online versions, although that number rises to 40,000 when the different languages ​​distributed by the dioceses are taken into account.

Vatican News, the Holy See’s main Internet portal, has an average of 21 million page views per month, but it’s not clear how many readers it is.