With his implacable faith and irrepressible spirit, he made an inspiring hero. In a South Africa gripped by the brutality of apartheid, he harnessed his effervescent yet indomitable personality with the weight of his church to galvanize world support for democracy and human rights.
Desmond Tutu, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, will turn 75 next month. He is an elf-like figure, this old man who survived the liberation struggle and went on to win a Nobel prize for his efforts in the name of peace, and who remains a sharp thorn in the sides of the wayward or unscrupulous.
Without the stature and handsomeness of former South African president Nelson Mandela but sharing his friend's refusal to rest, Tutu remains an embattled figure in the new South Africa, where political leaders, he said, are betraying the ideals of the anti-apartheid struggle.
PHOTO: AFP
Being a nation's conscience is not an easy job and in recent years Tutu has annoyed and angered many, from white South Africans and President Thabo Mbeki to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and even Mandela himself.
Tutu said he finds his current job of "nagging" South Africa to live up to its glorious history as difficult as tilting at the apartheid regime.
"I realized this right at the beginning after freedom came. So soon after winning the first election [1994], the new government raised their salaries. I criticized that and it caused trouble. Later when I said to Madiba [Mandela] that he was setting a bad example for not making a decent woman of Graca Machel and he should marry her, that angered people," Tutu said.
"It is so easy to be criticized for being unpatriotic," he said.
A few months ago Tutu said that the white minority did not appear to be grateful for how magnanimous black people had been to them after apartheid.
"That got me into a bit of hot water," he confesses.
Then there was his criticism of Mbeki's reluctance to battle against the scourge of AIDS and of the policies that have served to prop up Mugabe.
"My heart aches because I had the highest regard for President Mugabe. He was the brightest star in our firmament. It is unbelievable what he continues to do to destroy a country we were so proud of," Tutu said.
But he insists his criticisms are his effort to hold South Africa true to the selfless heroes of the battle against apartheid.
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