So many opinions in the
South African Newspapers
Nobody wants to be
misrepresented, hence this, briefly.
Although South
Africa is very different from Nigeria there is a consensus about the
main nominations for the title “The Desmond Tutu of Nigeria”
interpreted to mean “ the conscience of Nigeria”, i.e. he who
speaks truth to power, champions Democracy, Human Rights and
anti-corruption.
Strictly speaking ,
the idea that just like Archbishop Tutu , Wole Soyinka is / was
almost “untouchable” because of his international fame is not so
accurate when we know for a fact that Abacha
had passed the death sentence on him, in absentia and if Soyinka
had returned to Nigeria during General Abacha's reign of terror , the
Nigerian dictator would have summarily dispatched Soyinka to join Ken
Saro-Wiwa and the ancestors...
Yesterday (all my
troubles seemed so far away) , today and tomorrow, South Africa &
the world mourns the passing away of the anti-Apartheid icon
Archbishop
Desmond Tutu as his body lays
in state at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town. Only the devil
would like to rain on his funeral while the lovers shed real tears.
Back in 1986, here
is Miles Davis blowing his trumpet : Tutu
Throughout 2022 –
22 Tu tu will be dearly remembered.
Rightly or wrongly,
especially posthumously, a man ought not to be judged by his
intentions or by intentions that he did not have. The condolences are
still pouring in. There’s the statement issued by South Africa’s
President Cyril Ramaphosa, followed by Alagba Falola’s eulogy, as
expected Per
Wästberg has also been fulsome,
and now, what remains to be heard is the Full Monty from South
African scholar Paul Tiyambe Zeleza...
As Professor Harrow
says, along with Albie
Sachs, there’s all that courage
and integrity that the late Archbishop and freedom fighter
represented, yes, and to his credit, in the new province of freedom
that is post-apartheid South Africa the
Archbishop did stand up for LGBT rights , and anywhere in the
generally homophobic Africa, we are to suppose that it takes a lot of
courage to stand up for LGBT Rights. In his later years , I assume
that as the good prelate he was he campaigned as vigorously against
the occasional spates of violent xenophobia as and when it reared its
ugly head.
I’m sure that as
Tutu ascends to his place in Heaven, no one wants to clip his wings of
courage and sincerity that propelled him down here on earth, or to
deprive him of his irrepressible sense of humour, that endeared him
to so many in this vale of tears, the very sense of humour that
probably prompted him to assure his buddy Botha not to worry, that if
the worst imaginable thing happens what to expect when the revolution
comes? On the one hand should push really come to shove and the
Revolution comes , according to the Last Poets “When the
revolution comes some of us will probably catch it on TV, with
chicken hanging from our mouths” whereas according to Gil
Scott-Heron , The
Revolution will not be televised .
However,
according to lovey-dovey
Tutu’s gospel, Botha should take
some consolation and rest
assured in knowing
that should the bloody
Revolution come, the
Black Bourgeois / Black Middle Class would join forces with the
oppressor class in down-pressing & suppressing the Black plebeian
masses. So, Ken Harrow had better lay to rest the social gospel, all
that Marxist theology otherwise known as Liberation Theology.
Long live Joe
Slovo, Alan Paton, Nadine Gordimer, Andre Brink, J. M. Coetzee,
Ezekiel
Mphahlele, Lewis Nkosi, Chris
Hani , Oliver
Tambo…
I wonder what a
Truth
and reconciliation Commission in Israel would accomplish...
The
Truth and Reconciliation Commission over which Tutu presided is
regarded by some critics of that Commission as an instance of which
it can be religiously said that “South
Africa never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity” It
was a missed golden opportunity for what I’m sure that least one
person in this forum - Professor Biko Agozino will readily agree
with me, that reconciliation and by implication justice in the true
sense of those words can only be effectively achieved when the
outstanding matters of reparations, compensation, land
re-distribution are properly addressed.
In the final
judgment, somehow, Tutu’s fortunes seem to be inextricably linked
with what many are increasingly being disenchanted and frustrated
with as a very counter-revolutionary ANC,
although he did not spare some of the ANC that much in his critiques.
The counter revolutionary ANC
‘s fortunes really started to dwindle - along with its dwindling
reputation when members of that party sabotaged Thabo Mbeki and
replaced him with Zuma who still denies the 856 charges of
corruption made against him , but who did not reject the rape charge
bought against him in a South Africa that’s said to be “the
rape capital of the world “, explaining as he did that a
female prancing around in her underwear in front of a big Zulu man
him , was only asking for it and should only have herself to blame.
What was the
reaction of the late Archbishop to that sort of thing? Did he
approach Zuma just as the Prophet Nathan approached King David , to
speak truth to power or was it another missed opportunity?
Anyway, I have read
one of his
books - namely, his God
Has A Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Times and was amazed by
the chapter entitled “God
loves your enemies”: At least he didn’t go as far as to say”
God loves the devil”, only that God loves the agents of the
devil...
Lastly, I should
also like to point out that as far as South African religiosity is
concerned I am currently a student of the late Andrew
Murray , kept company with his Covenants
and Blessings, last night….
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