Cape Town - For more than 60 years, Leah Tutu has been a “cherished partner” to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and on Wednesday she celebrates her 82nd birthday.
She has stood behind him since early in his career, and has been his “rock” and his chief adviser, their daughter Mpho Tutu said.
Earlier this year the couple celebrated 60 years of marriage with a renewal of vows ceremony at St George’s Cathedral.
The city council will be joining Leah and her family as they celebrate her birthday at The Granary.
She will be joined by mayor Patricia de Lille and Mpho who will be unveiling a plaque and signing a ceremonial lease for the building.
The celebrations follow an announcement by De Lille that the city will celebrate the Arch and Leah’s birthdays over a number of days. The Arch celebrated his 84th birthday a week ago.
The celebrations are to promote “peace, reconciliation and equality in our country”, the city council said.
Tutu recently shared that he would be nothing without Leah as she has seen their family through many challenges.
Mpho Tutu’s tribute to Ma Leah
“MOTHER (noun): a woman in relation to a child or children to whom she has given birth.” For anyone who has ever come into contact with my mother, you will know that is not an apt definition.
Although Leah Tutu only gave birth to four biological children, the list of people who are proud to call her their “mama”, “Mme”, “Mama Leah” is long.
Unlike most women who take drastic measures to protect their children from the harsh reality of the world around them, my mother did no such thing.
She never shielded us from the onslaught of threats or abuse aimed at my parents for the work that they did to bring our beautiful country out of the nightmare called apartheid.
Quite to the contrary, my mother taught us to be proud.
She showed us that if we truly believed in something, we would have to face people who were opposed to our success.
We answered phone calls, only to be told that our parents would be killed.
The foetus of a baboon was hung up outside of our house, anti-Tutu graffiti was sprayed on walls, threatening pamphlets were dropped in our driveway and you could barely open a newspaper without reading something negative about my dad and still, our parents stood firm in their beliefs.
My mother is and was a fighter, a nurse, teacher, friend, wife, best friend.
My mother has always been the sensible one in the family, the forthright one who called a spade “a spade”, the arch-critic who took herself off on a mechanics’ course in order to be able to fix the car, the resident light-bulb changer, disciplinarian, gardener, chef, first aid practitioner and fountain of love and compassion.
She is also a qualified teacher and nurse.
She worked to supplement the family income, including, for eight years, as director of the Domestic Workers and Employers Project of the South African Institute of Race Relations.
She has opinions on things – sometimes, strong opinions – that she is not afraid to express.
She once famously bought a perspex sign proclaiming, “You are entitled to your WRONG opinion”, and displayed it on the mantelpiece in the lounge.
She is a member of a close-knit group of friends in Soweto, all of whom are in their eighties.
She loves Soweto and her Soweto home and garden, and would probably choose to live there still, were it not for the noise created by the development of tourism in the area.
The house next door has become a throbbing restaurant/pub/live music venue; its ablution facilities peek over the dividing wall.
While she obviously supports the development of tourism, she is flabbergasted that municipal planning regulations are not uniformly applied.
She doesn’t understand why a building development that would be deemed illegal in Sandton is permissible in Soweto.
She’s written to the authorities about it but never received a satisfactory reply. So she moved out.
I suppose it’s a case of Soweto’s loss being Cape Town’s gain.
She loves, and she believes.
Ask any of her squad of best friends from Soweto, whenever she was needed my mother always pulled through.
Whether she was providing a sense of safety and security for domestic workers across the country or being the shoulder that her friends could be sure they could cry on, my mother is loyal.
My mother is my role model.
When I grow up I want to be just like her.
When I grow up, I want to be the type of woman that is able to love, to love hard and unconditionally just like my mother has.
I want to be able to touch the lives of many and still maintain such a great sense of modesty.
I want to be the type of woman who always puts family first, and since we’re related to half of the country that’s a lot of family.
I want to be the woman who doesn’t hide behind her spouse, who is strong and independent on her own.
When I grow up, I want to be like my mommy.
* The Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu is the executive director of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
Cape Argus