Archbishọp Tutu: A kwadowo m maka ọnwụ m

Dr. Walter Mzembi, African Tourism Board Executive Board Member | Former Foreign Minister and Minister of Tourism Zimbabwe

Archbishop Desmond Tutu could easily have crossed the floor to politics after his retirement and he had all the credentials to pursue a vibrant political career in the Rainbow Nation whose founding he had helped create but he opted to remain the light, the voice of conscience and would correct even the likes of Robert Mugabe when he assessed that he was off the rails, his whip of conscience was felt far and wide and his lifetime accolades in the Peace Sector are well-deserved, he is indeed a Peace Hero.

Cuthbert Ncube, Onye isi oche nke African Tourism Board

It is with great sadness to lose one of the Continental’ Giants who spent his life fighting for justice in liberating the oppressed populace in Africa.

The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who was a cornerstone for African justice and equality for the oppressed has sent shock waves across the globe.

The climax remembrance of his legacy was when he lead the truth and reconciliation commission as the commission’s Chairperson. Tutu was a key ally to Nelson Mandela in the fight against apartheid and human rights abuses against the black populace in South Africa and always balanced so well his role as a religious cleric and a political activist.

The Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu was appointed in 1985 with its central purpose in promoting reconciliation and forgiveness among perpetrators and victims of the brutal atrocities committed by the white minority supremacy against the black majority during the apartheid regime.

ATB expresses its heartfelt condolences to the Family, Freinds, and associates of the Giant tree that has fallen.

We continue the struggle where he left to always advocate for justice and equality in our share within the Tourism and economic space and always voice the supremacy from the minority against Africa.

Submitted by Reporter Frankline Njume, Cameroon

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died Sunday morning in Cape Town at age 90, was a man of strong faith and conviction, but also of words. He did not hesitate to use humor and anger to express his values and outrage.

Here are some of his most famous quotes:

• “Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.” (New York Times, October 19, 1984)
• “For goodness sake, will they hear, will white people hear what we are trying to say? Please, all we are asking you to do is to recognize that we are humans, too. When you scratch us, we bleed. When you tickle us, we laugh.” (Statement urging sanctions against South Africa, 1985)
• “Your President is the pits as far as blacks are concerned. He sits there like the great, big white chief of old can tell us black people that we don’t know what is good for us. The white man knows.” (Interview with US press, reacting to Ronald Reagan’s vetoing of economic sanctions apartheid government, 1986)
• “At home in South Africa I have sometimes said in big meetings where you have black and white together: ‘Raise your hands!’ Then I’ve said, ‘Move your hands,’ and I’ve said, ‘Look at your hands — different colours representing different people. You are the rainbow people of God’.” (His book “The Rainbow People of God”, 1994)
• “I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this. I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place. I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid.” (Speech at a UN’s gay rights campaign, 2013).
• “I give great thanks to God that he has created a Dalai Lama. Do you really think, as some have argued, that God will be saying: ‘You know, that guy, the Dalai Lama, is not bad. What a pity he’s not a Christian’? I don’t think that is the case, because, you see, God is not a Christian.” (Speech at Dalai Lama’s birthday, June 2, 2006)
• “He has, I mean, mutated into something that is quite unbelievable. He has really turned into a kind of Frankenstein for his people.” (commenting about Robert Mugabe to Australia’s ABC TV)
• “Our government… says it will not support Tibetans who are being oppressed viciously by the Chinese… I am warning you, I am warning you, that we will pray as we prayed for the downfall of the apartheid government, we will pray for the downfall of a government that misrepresents us.” (On South Africa refusing the Dalai Lama a visa, 2011)
• “I am ashamed to call this lickspittle bunch my government.” (After South Africa again denied the Dalai Lama a visa, 2014).
• “Once a Zambian and a South African, it is said, were talking. The Zambian then boasted about their minister of naval affairs. The South African asked, ‘But you have no navy, no access to the sea. How then can you have a minister of naval affairs?’ The Zambian retorted, ‘Well, in South Africa you have a Minister of Justice, don’t you?’” (Nobel lecture, 1984)
• “I have prepared for my death and have made it clear that I do not wish to be kept alive at all costs. I hope I am treated with compassion and allowed to pass on to the next phase of life’s journey in the manner of my choice.”

Lumko Mtimde:
 Former Special Advisor to the Minister in the Presidency,  Republic of South Africa | Founding -member of the first community radio station in SA, Bush Radio | Former Councilor of both the IBA and ICASA 

Lala ngoxolo Arch, iQhawe lama Qhawe. You finished your race Archbishop with distinction, you, selflessly served South Africa well. I directly experienced your leadership in the United Democratic Front (UDF) when I was a South African National Students Congress (SANSCO) member, at the University of the Western Cape (UWC)

You were the Chancellor, I was privileged to be capped by you when I graduated at UWC and in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa where my late father Rev Archibald Dalindyebo Mtimde also served as a Priest.

As Dr. Alan Boesak puts it, you represent the best of us. Your role in the struggle for our liberation and bringing peace in South Africa cannot be disputed. Your legacy will live on forever. Condolences to our Mother Leah and the family. 

Gloria Guevara, Advisor to the Minister of Tourism Saudi Arabia | Former CEO WTTC | Former Minister of Tourism Mexico

Archbishop Tutu was an agent of change, positive change. A Leader that inspired others and made a positive difference in this world. He was instrumental in the approach to reconciliation. He was someone above politics who helped in the inclusiveness process. Now more than ever we need leaders like him, to help to have a world with tolerance and more inclusive.

Professor Geoffrey Lipman, SunX, Belgium | President ICTP | Former CEO WTTC | Former Assistant Secretary – General UNWTO

I met the Archbishop several times, when I was President of WTTC in the 1990s – most memorably when we went together with former S. African President De Klerk and several Nobel Lareatesinto Ramalla to accompany then Israeli opposition leader, Shimon Peres to meet with Yasser Arafat and the PLA Leadership.

The first trip an Israeli leader made to the capital. And by happenstance shortly after on a transatlantic flight to a UN Assembly. It was an honor to be in his company ….always a wonderful smile and a kind thought.

And brilliant humor – his favorite story was about a guy who fell off a cliff and caught a branch to save his life. he screams for help shouting “is there anyone up there” and a voice says I am the Lord thy God, let go of the branch and you will float back up to safety. And the guy screams ” Is there anyone else up there”

That epitomized the man.