Today, South Africans and the world at large, awoke to the news of the passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu, who at the age of 90, was one of the last giants of the anti-apartheid movement.
On behalf of the residents of the City of Johannesburg, I extend my deepest condolences to Mme Leah Tutu and the Tutu family.
As we mourn the passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, we take stock of the role that our beloved ‘Arch’ played in shaping the South Africa of today. At a crucial moment in our history when we needed men and women of great courage and fortitude to take us to the promised land of freedom, Archbishop Tutu stood front and centre in the struggle for human rights.
A revered man of the cloth, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s life was inextricably linked to the City of Johannesburg. It is in our City, that he served as Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1975 before becoming Bishop of Johannesburg in 1985.
He dwelled in his passion for ordinary people, electing to make his home in Orlando West rather than live in the official Dean’s residence in Houghton – then an exclusively white suburb.
The passing of ‘Arch’ leaves me deeply saddened. As a woman of faith, I draw inspiration from Archbishop Tutu’s convictions and belief in God, which underpinned his courage in the face of much adversity. It is a sobering moment for our country as we begin to contemplate the reality that an exemplary class of elders like the Arch are departing this earth at a time when South Africa needs the sort of guidance only the likes Tutu, Mandela, Tambo and Sisulu could ever give.
The moral decay evidenced by the scourge of violence, crime and corruption which elicited such vociferous condemnation from the ‘Arch’ against the post-apartheid government, is something which our generation must urgently address. He truly and courageously spoke truth to power.
Although now surrounded by urban decay, the multi-party government must, as a matter of urgency, continue rejuvenating the Inner City of Johannesburg to breathe life back into our City, so that historical monuments like St. Mary’s Cathedral – a church which was close to Tutu’s heart – can once again exist in a beautiful environment.
26/12/2021