Statements

In the darkest days of apartheid, amid the brutality, inhumanity and horror of state-sponsored violence, James Matthews had the courage to articulate the pain many South Africans were feeling.

He was imprisoned, and his work was banned, because the regime wanted to stop James’s words nourishing the roots of freedom. They wanted to minimize the number of people who were exposed to the truth, whose resolve James’ work was steeling.

Many thousands of South Africans contributed to defeating apartheid, in a multitude of ways. Some joined the liberation movement, some underwent training to prosecuting the armed struggle, and many participated in defiance campaigns.

It wasn’t a conventional war between armies and soldiers; it was a whole-of-society war. There were medical practitioners who treated and shielded the wounded from falling into the hands of the police. There were teachers who supported the endeavours of scholars, lawyers prepared to risk careers, shopkeepers, taxi drivers, journalists and factory workers; all involved.

James Matthews spoke to all these people, and to artists, academics and politicians who cared to listen, in language they could understand. A blend of beauty and belligerence, with the impact of a grenade. Flames and Flowers…

Over the past 20 years James became a dear friend of Mrs Leah Tutu, and a regular visitor to the Tutu’s Milnerton home. While Archbishop Desmond attended to his spiritual and pastoral work, James and Mrs Tutu would drink tea and chat.

They were age-mates, who’d out-lived the Union of South Africa and the apartheid republic. They’d seen the advent of democracy, and shared a deep desire for fairness, peace and justice.

It was in this period that he published his ode to old age, Age is a Beautiful Phase, remarkable not just for its genuine honesty and wisdom, but also its gentleness. It was a platform for the author of the anthemic 1972 Cry Rage to demonstrate his depth and the full range of his power.

May James Matthews rest in peace and rise in glory; and may his family draw comfort from the lifework of a generational talent and giant of South African society.

From Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Chair of the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust

Statement from the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust.

With photographs by Benny Gool, Oryx Media.

Ox Nche shares Springbok magic with Mama Leah Tutu

Springbok strongman and cake-lover, Retshegofaditswe “Ox” Nche, told Mrs Leah Tutu that he hoped that Archbishop Tutu, “can see from heaven that rugby is bringing South Africans together as he wanted us to be”.

The charming and softly spoken front-ranker was visiting Mrs Tutu for tea (and chocolate cake), and to show her the World Cup Trophy the Springboks won in Paris last year.

With respect to cake, Nche explained: “You have to be happy, and cake is for the heart and soul.”

Mrs Tutu told Nche that she was very proud of the Springboks and gave the team a special grandmother’s blessing ahead of their crunch match against the All Blacks on Saturday.

He pinned a special Springbok badge on her lapel, as an early gift ahead of her 91st birthday on 14 October.

Also present were the Chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, and CEO of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Ms Janet Jobson.

Joint statement from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s legacy organisations…

LAUNCH OF ARCHBISHOP TUTU LEGACY PROJECT FOR JUSTICE IN THE HOLY LAND

The two legacy organisations established by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Leah Tutu in Cape Town will tomorrow morning mount a simple public installation symbolising the Archbishop’s decades-long work for justice in Palestine.

Until the bombing of Gaza stops, a life-size statue of the Archbishop, wearing a Palestinian scarf, will be displayed during office hours on the balcony of the soon-to-be-renamed Desmond and Leah Tutu House (presently, the Old Granary Building) above Buitenkant Street.

Archbishop Tutu visited Israel and Gaza on a number of occasions, including as an emissary of the United Nations.

He was an outspoken critic of the State of Israel’s policies and treatment of Palestine and Palestinians, which he likened to the policies and actions of apartheid South Africa.

He made a clear distinction between the State of Israel and Israeli citizens, to whom he appealed to pressure their government to embrace meaningful dialogue and change.

He fervently believed that the greatest beneficiaries of a just dispensation for Palestine, besides Palestinians, themselves, would be the citizens of Israel.

The genocidal vengeance being enacted by the State of Israel against Palestinian civilians in response to the violent Hamas incursion of Israel on 7 October 2023 is a recipe for sustained hatred.

The killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians, including disproportionate numbers of women, children and journalists, the destruction of infrastructure, the displacement of millions of people – and the withdrawal of the basic necessities for human existence, water, food, fuel and medicine – is an abomination.

That powerful nations can’t agree to stop it is an affront to the notion of equal human rights and the equality of human beings. These nations are effectively saying that some human beings have rights and others have none, while making a mockery of global instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Archbishop Tutu regarded all human beings as related, inter-dependent, members of a single human family – which he called God’s family.

When members of the family squabbled, it was up to the rest of the family to bring them back into line, he taught. Claiming neutrality was an untenable response to injustice; people and institutions were duty-bound to stand up for justice for those who are oppressed, downtrodden and marginalised.

He also taught that making peace required talking to those you considered your enemies.

Tomorrow morning at 9.30am, Chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust Dr Mamphela Ramphele, and Chief Executive of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Ms Janet Jobson, will officially unveil the installation which will stand in silent protest until the bombing stops.

If the statue could talk it would say: Violence, forced removals, starvation and thirst are not instruments of justice. Please stop the hurting, and talk.

Ends…

* This statement was issued by the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust.

** Distributed by Oryx Media (Benny Gool 082 5566556 and Roger Friedman 079 8966899).

• Launch of Desmond Tutu digital platform preserving his teaching for posterity
  
  
• His car, a valuable lesson in itself, goes on public display
  
  
• The Archbishop would have celebrated his 92nd birthday today

At one minute past midnight, tonight, the first phase of a bespoke digital platform designed to make Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s extraordinary body of work publicly accessible is scheduled to go live online, to coincide with what would have been the Arch’s 92nd birthday.

The platform is available at https://archive.tutuiptrust.org.

The first phase of the project entailed engaging with the Archbishop’s physical and digital archives, conceptualising the arrangement of the collection in line with periods of his life, digitising physical items and processing items already in digital form to populate those periods – and then designing the architecture of the digital archive and uploading the first tranche of materials.

Where sections of the archive are yet to be populated they are curated for silence; that is, their location is visible as it forms part of the essential environment.

The project will unfold over several years, as more and more materials are prepared (arranged, itemized, inventoried, captured in digital form, processed and professionally referenced) and uploaded. The next phase will also include linking the platform to important materials held in the archives of local and international universities, among others.

The aim is to provide a one-stop, comprehensive and accessible resource for present and future generations of learners and thinkers.

The project is being directed by the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust, which was established by the Archbishop to manage his intellectual property and associated rights.

There is also a physical aspect to the archiving initiative, with a large collection of papers, artefacts, books and gifts associated with the Archbishop located in Cape Town. The physical archive underpins the programmatic work of the Trust’s sister organization, the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, including the permanent exhibition at the Old Granary Building.

The most recent addition to materials on public display at the Granary is the Archbishop’s old Toyota Corolla which, in itself, teaches an important lesson about probity.

This is the modest (1600cc, with manual transmission) car that the Archbishop selected in 2008 after receiving a generous gift from a US billionaire that was sufficient to have bought an expensive limousine. Of course, his choice of ride was the antithesis of the cars favoured by South African government ministers, in a country beset by radical poverty.

When the Archbishop wrote to thank the billionaire and inform him of his choice, he said that instead of spending all the money he thought it should be shared with others.

“The Archbishop Tutu IP Trust is thrilled to have prepared the ground for the next phase of the archiving project that will draw in the expertise of university partners in the UK, US and South Africa,” said chairperson of the Trust, Dr Mamphela Ramphele.

“The digital platform has been designed to be accessible, easily searchable, and robust.

“Memory of Archbishop Tutu’s template for human leadership based on the principles of inter-dependence, love and justice for all cannot be lost to a world (and beloved country) being driven to the abyss by consumptiveness, inequality, and division,” Dr Ramphele said.

* The digital platform was developed for the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust by Africa Media Online, a South African company specializing in digital preservation and archiving, and AM Quartex, a UK-based company focusing on discoverability and design that allows users to access the archive on any digital device.

6 October 2023

* PHOTO CREDIT: ORYX MEDIA

Statement from Dr Mamphela Ramphele and Mr Niclas Kjellstrom-Matseke, chairpersons, respectively, of the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation

PICKING UP THE PIECES:
THE 1st ANNIVERSARY OF ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU’S PASSING

1. End of the traditional mourning period
2. Beginning of global university partnership to secure his teaching

A year ago, on Boxing Day, South Africa’s beloved Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu passed away after a protracted struggle with prostate cancer, teaching lessons about life, love and human values until the very end.  

The image of this man – who in life rubbed shoulders with some of the most powerful and celebrated people on earth – lying in state in a simple pine coffin with rope handles, was both gorgeous in its humility and a searing indictment on the culture of extravagance that has overwhelmed traditional human practises venerating the departed. 

The first anniversary of his passing marks the end of the traditional mourning period by his widow, Mrs Nomalizo Leah Tutu. 

It also marks the beginning of a new global digital journey to protect the Archbishop’s body of work for future generations.

Archbishop Tutu occupied a unique position (organically, without being appointed or elected, guided by his faith) as a global moral conscience and human role-model. We have been acutely conscious of his silence this year. 

Were he still here, he’d have helped us understand, from an inter-connected human family perspective, where we should stand in this year of war in Europe, accelerating climate calamity, energy crisis – and increasing social and political bankruptcy at home.

The Arch’s work took him around the world, dropping pearls of wisdom as he went. These teachings, unlike Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs in the old European fairy-tale, remain relevant and accessible today. Gathered together, they comprise what we term the Archbishop’s Heirloom to Humanity.

The Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation will work together on the development of a single-site, accessible and usable global digital archive (The Heirloom Project) in collaboration with South African and international universities associated with the Archbishop. Several have already committed to the project; details will be announced early in the new year.

The university consortium model is inspired by the approach of the Atlanta University Center Robert W Woodruff Library, which serves the research and information needs of four historically Black colleges and universities: Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College and Spelman College.

The objective of the digital archive project is not to eulogise the Archbishop, worthy as he is of acknowledgment and praise; or to commemorate him, worthy as he is of being remembered.

The objective is to harness the full body of his teaching in order to be able to contribute meaningfully to the endeavours of those he left behind, and are still to come… Those interested in pursuing their faith, spreading the truth of our interconnectedness and interdependence as a single family of human beings and/or or completing the unfinished business of addressing unresolved injustices and inequities.

Among the obvious advantages of working with prestigious universities on several continents is that they are well-established, living institutions inhabited by successive generations of curious people with an interest in knowledge, and keeping it alive.

The archive will, eventually, contain an exhaustive collection of easily searchable digital files of papers, speeches, statements, comments, interviews, articles, photographs, television footage and artefacts associated with the Arch. 

On the 1st day of 2022, the Archbishop was laid to rest. It has been an eventful and productive year, steeped in sadness and loss.

On behalf of Mrs Leah Tutu, we very gratefully acknowledge the loving support of family and friends across South Africa and the world throughout the mourning period. 

We send warm festive season greetings to all.

This statement was issued for Dr Mamphela Ramphele (Chair of the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust) and Mr Niclas Kjellstrom-Matseke, (Chair of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation). 

For more information please call Benny Gool 082 5566 556 or Roger Friedman 079 8966 899 (Tutu Trust); or Ntombenhle Shezi 078 7598 318  (Tutu Foundation).