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The Arch reaches 78 with a chuckle
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| October 07 2009 at 12:08PM |
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Submit your comment John Yeld South Africans may have been too naive in thinking that racial issues could be quickly resolved and that the "rainbow nation" was easily achievable, says Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. But the "Arch" also says that South Africans need to give themselves credit for what has been achieved since the advent of democracy in 1994. And his advice is that, after indulging themselves in some legitimate whinging about problems, they should get down to work at helping the country achieve its full potential as a powerful symbol of democracy and as Africa's leading economy. Continues Below ↓ In an exclusive interview yesterday on the eve of his 78th birthday today, Tutu agreed that many South Africans were still "carrying baggage". "There is a lot of hurt - the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) did a little bit but there are umpteen people who have been hurt in one way or another," he said. "In a sense we may have been far too naive, and that even when we knew that reconciliation was a very long process, somehow we thought we did have a kind of magic wand. And it may be a good thing for people to try and get the bile out of their systems." But the issue of race was not an easy subject to deal with rationally and coldly, he added. "You need to have a safe environment where you can beef (moan) as much as you like, but also have someone who can help you. Because if you just beef, you're just reinforcing the stereotypes. "Sometimes I think we are being unrealistic. What should happen is that we should say 'Ok, beef about the problems' and then say 'This is how we can resolve them' and let's tuck in and make this country what we know we can become - a humming democracy and the engine of Africa." South Africans did not always give themselves credit for what had been achieved, he added. "Maybe let's learn to laugh at ourselves, but let us also appreciate what has happened and that we've got as far as this. I mean, look at the instances now of racism in Europe, where you're getting many of the right-wing groups in England where they didn't have apartheid!" Asked whether it was easy to grow old gracefully or whether he found himself raging against the ageing process, he responded with that famous, very infectious, chuckle of his: "Heh, heh, heh!" "When you've had mainly good things happening, you know, God has been very good to me, to us, and especially when I'm aware that at different points in my life they expected me to die - as a baby, I had polio, and then as a teenager I had TB and (Bishop) Trevor Huddlestone came to see me and he was told I was going to die, and I've had cancer. "I can really say that all of my life has been a bonus. And when you look at where we've come from, and where we are, as individuals, as a family, as a nation, isn't it just wonderful?" Does he have any serious regrets in life - something that he would have liked to have tackled but didn't have time for, perhaps? "My regret is that I never became a doctor ... heh, heh, heh!" he chuckled again. "I had wanted to become a physician and I was admitted to medical school but my family couldn't afford the fees, so I went into teaching. "And almost always when I go to, say, Groote Schuur and I see these young people with their stethoscopes, I have a small little part of me that longs go have had a time when I could have had a stethoscope. But, ja, that's a longing that I've had, but as a second option I've had a very good life, really, very fulfilling." There had been rough times in his life but on balance the positives had significantly outweighed the negatives, he added. "I got involved in a liberation struggle and ended up on the winning side and I'm alive to experience it. And then being invited to preside over a process of trying to heal a nation (the TRC) - it was an incredible privilege. "And before that to have been the person to introduce Nelson Mandela to South Africa and to the world as our new democratically elected president - there's nothing you can give for those experiences. It's been fantastic." He pointed out that his beloved wife Leah's mother had been a domestic worker and that she (Leah) had lived with her brother in a backyard room. As a child, he and his family lived in a three-roomed municipal house - "It was actually better than these RDPs (post-1994 low income housing) although it's galling to say so!" "So to come from a ghetto and now to have lived in Bishopscourt and to be able to have two homes, beautiful lovely homes ... Ja, I wouldn't exchange the experience I've had for anything." Tutu set the record straight on his views on President Zuma, about whose nomination as president he had publicly expressed concern ahead of the NPA's decision to drop corruption charges last year. "He's a very personable individual, warm, and very, very friendly and you can discuss with him various things," Tutu said. "But I'm still very unhappy that his case was dealt with in the manner in which it was dealt with. I don't have an animus against him, it's the principle. For his own sake, it (the case against Zuma) should have been dealt with by a court, not in a sense administratively. So he will always have a cloud hanging over him about whether he was or wasn't guilty." But Tutu also said it was "a great deal better" dealing with Zuma than with his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. "There are good things that have happened (since the Zuma administration took office) but there are also worrying things. But on the eve of my birthday I must say nice things! Let us just say the jury's out." Today ((wed)) he's launching his book God's Dream, much to his delight. He has explained elsewhere that God's dream is "a place where laughter, love and peace reign and where we realise that we are all members of one family - God's family". Tutu said yesterday that he had been particularly impressed with literary agent Lynn Franklin who had connected him with illustrator LeUyen Pham and co-author Douglas Carlton Abrams. "It (the book) is lovely, even if I say so myself. It's the illustrations that get me - they capture the mischievous of children and of the cats and the dogs ... And Doug is a remarkable young man, he really is gifted." Other than the book launch, he didn't know whether Leah had anything special in store for him today - "My wife has not told me what she's planned - maybe she's not planned anything! Heh, heh, heh, heh!" And he praised her for being "wonderful, so supportive" through all the years they've been together. "There must have been many moments when she must have wondered what she'd done! Heh, heh, heh!" He may be one year older, but that instantly recognisable chuckle is just as self-deprecatory and infectious as ever. john.yeld@inl.co.za
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