Inter Press Service - November 24, 2004
Moyiga Nduru

Now, with apartheid gone, Tutu is directing his desire for social justice elsewhere. The diminutive 73-year-old, still as energetic as ever, claims that poverty and political kowtowing have become the biggest threats to South Africa's safety and security.

"We were involved in the struggle (against apartheid) because we believed we would evolve a new kind of society: a caring, a compassionate society. At the moment many, too many, of our people live in gruelling, demeaning and dehumanising poverty. We are sitting on a powder keg," Tutu told about 200 people at the second Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, which took place in South Africa's commercial centre of Johannesburg Tuesday.

More than 40 percent of South Africans, most of them black, live below the poverty line of a dollar a day according to Statistics South Africa, a government agency. But some believe this figure could be higher.

In a paper entitled 'Social Security Policy Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Focus on the Basic Income Grant', published by the Centre for Civil Society at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, researcher Kumiko Makino notes that 61 percent of blacks and 38 percent of coloureds (mixed-race persons) are poor. Only five percent of Indian and one percent of white South Africans suffer the same fate.

Tutu, whose entertaining lecture was punctuated by bursts of applause, says South Africans can reduce poverty levels by "adopting" families - and giving them a monthly gift of around two or three dollars. "Very few poor people want a handout - they are proud. But, they also need a leg up. We can adopt a child, for whom we pay school fees," he said.

The retired archbishop of Cape Town also took a swipe at policies for black economic empowerment (BEE) which he says benefit only "a small elite that tends to be recycled". Ironically, Tutu was introduced to the audience by one of the most prominent exponents of BEE in South Africa - businessman Tokyo Sexwale.

"We were on the verge of self-destruction. But people like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu rose above our differences and rescued this country," he said.

During his lecture, Tutu accused the South African elite of always demanding "an uncritical, sycophantic, obsequious conformity" which he warned would only serve to stifle South Africa's democracy.

"We should debate more openly, not using emotive language, issues such as affirmative action, transformation in sport, racism, xenophobia, security, crime, violence against women and children," he said.

"We want our society to be characterised by vigorous debate and dissent, where to disagree is part and parcel of a vibrant community...and not think that those who disagree, who express dissent, are disloyal or unpatriotic," noted Tutu, adding "I am concerned to see how many have so easily been seemingly cowed and apparently intimidated to comply."

The former cleric singled out South Africa's troubled debate on AIDS as an aspect of national life that could have benefited from more such "dissent".

President Thabo Mbeki has earned the wrath of AIDS activists by questioning the link between HIV and AIDS. He has also stated that he does not personally know of anyone who has died from AIDS - this despite the fact that his former spokesman, Phakamile "Parks" Mankahlana, is widely thought to have succumbed to an AIDS-related disease.

"I would have wished to see far more open debate, for instance, of the HIV/AIDS views of the president," noted Tutu, adding "I did not agree with the president, but that did not make me his enemy. He knows that I hold him in high regard. But, none of us is infallible and that is why we are a democracy and not a dictatorship."

About five million of South Africa's population of 44.8 million people are thought to have contracted HIV. Tutu said that nearly 400,000 were expected to die as a result of the pandemic this year.

He also called for more informed debate about the crisis in Zimbabwe.

"What do we want our government to do in Zimbabwe? Are we satisfied with quiet diplomacy there?" asked Tutu, who has broken ranks with other African leaders in choosing to criticise the administration of Robert Mugabe.

"Surely human rights violations must be condemned as such, whatever the struggle credentials of the perpetrator?" Tutu noted further.

There is no love lost between the cleric and Mugabe. After a comment by Tutu in which he said that Mugabe resembled the caricature of an African dictator, the Zimbabwean leader referred to Tutu as "an angry, evil and embittered little bishop" - this in an interview in May with Sky News television.

In 2000, a controversial campaign of farm occupations began in Zimbabwe, supposedly under the leadership of independence war veterans who wished to redress racial imbalances in land ownership that dated back to the colonial era.

Few disputed these imbalances, which had resulted in minority whites owning most of Zimbabwe's best agricultural land. However, certain analysts claimed government had masterminded the occupations in a ploy to win parliamentary elections in 2000.

Both the 2000 legislative and 2002 presidential polls were marked by widespread violence, most of directed against the opposition. This prompted the European Union to impose sanctions against Harare; however, South Africa has veered away from adopting a confrontational approach towards Zimbabwe.

Mandela did not attend Tutu's lecture.

"I apologise for not being able to attend the annual lecture. I'm in spirit with you. The arch(bishop Tutu) is the first South African to deliver the lecture," the 86-year-old former president, who looked frail, said via satellite link.

The first Mandela lecture was delivered by former American President Bill Clinton in July last year.

After mixing freely with participants, signing autographs and posing for photos, Tutu stepped out of the hall where a Mercedes Benz sedan was waiting for him.

The backseat door of the vehicle had been opened for Tutu. However, "the arch" didn't see the need for such formalities: he jumped into the front seat, the better to enjoy a conversation with his driver.

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