FROM THE BLOG

Today we celebrate the life and times of the incomparable Mama Nomalizo Leah Tutu, on her 92nd birthday.

Married to Desmond Tutu for 66 years, she kept the home fires burning, fueling and freeing him to excel professionally and as a globally respected icon of humanity, human rights and one human family.

But doting wife and mother only tells part of Mama Leah’s story. She was the family pragmatist, a powerful and sharp-witted force anchored in her community, adding deeply rooted earthly contexts to her husband’s spiritual endeavours.

Desmond and Leah Tutu were married in July 1955, a week after South Africans of all colours gathered in Kliptown, Soweto, where the iconic blueprint for South Africa’s liberation, called the Freedom Charter, was unveiled.

At the time, he was teaching in Krugersdorp and she had just completed teacher’s training. He soon gave up his teaching career in response to the government downgrading education for black children, heading for the priesthood. She added a nursing qualification to her teaching one but had little opportunity to practice either profession.

Nor did she have much professional use for the motor mechanic training that she undertook to free the family of the burden of asking small town White mechanics for help on the long road. There were many long road trips to ferry children to and from school in Swaziland; besides taking responsibility for broken fan belts and faulty sparkplugs, she was also the caterer (to avoid small town restaurants), and often the driver.

Because the priesthood is not among the world’s best paid professions, Mama Leah took on various jobs to augment the family income. Many were relatively short-term, because her husband’s rapid ascension through the ranks of the church necessitated moving to live in different locations. Among the longer-term jobs was in Johannesburg, where she ran a domestic workers project for the Institute of Race Relations.

Since the Arch’s passing late in 2021, Mama Leah has continued living in Cape Town, in the home they bought when he retired from the church to head South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission nearly 30 years ago.

At the grand age of 92, her wit undiminished, she remains a formidable symbol of love and human inter-dependence. We wish Mama Leah the very happiest of birthdays, and many more to come.

Ends…