The history of the liberation of South Africa and indeed southern Africa cannot be written without mentioning Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A brilliant, considerate, humorous, principled leader, the Anglican cleric rose through the ranks to become the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Bishop of Johannesburg and Archbishop of Cape Town, notwithstanding the segregationist pro-White environment.

It is from these pulpits, the townships and the streets that he would boldly preach the incompatibility of apartheid with Christian values. He supported the struggle at a time when some church leaders waivered, or were still asking questions if it were right to support the (armed) struggle. Detained and released many times he displayed extraordinary courage and resilience speaking out against the regime but also defying the brutal police force not just in street demonstrations, but sometimes in the “house of God” during church service.

In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work against apartheid. One of the first major assignments he handled after retirement from his church position in 1997 was to chair the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which sought closure to the most horrendous crimes during the apartheid era principally by the perpetrators of apartheid but also its opponents including the ANC.

Right from liberation in 1994 he assumed the role of a watchdog for the voiceless and downtrodden masses, clashing with each president. With Nelson Mandela he raised the question of the high salaries that the new black elite were inheriting from the apartheid regime and proposed a basic income grant for the poor.

There was no love lost between the Archbishop and Mandela’s two successors, presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. He called out Mbeki for his Black Empowerment policies which benefited a tiny minority and for ignoring basic science and tested approaches in handling the HIV/Aids pandemic leading to sickness and death of thousands of South Africans.

Given the criminal cases that faced Jacob Zuma from corruption (for which he was dropped as vice president) to rape, Archbishop Tutu argued that he should not seek the presidency. After Zuma became President they co-existed although the Archbishop criticised Zuma many times not least when he bowed to Chinese pressure to deny a visa to the Dalai Lama, a fellow spiritual leader and Noble laureate. It was during Zuma’s Presidency that he declared he would not vote for the ANC if the status quo persisted. It was during this period that he said that South Africa had lost its way!

Archbishop Tutu has died at a time of great anxiety in South Africa, following the erosion of public confidence in its government and more significantly in its liberation movement, the ANC as witnessed by its poor performance in the recent elections.

Tutu did not confine his appraisals to South Africa. He called out Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe for dictatorial tendencies and faulty economic policies. He called out Kenya for setting up what he regarded as a sub-standard Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

He condemned Israel for practising a form of apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Prof Ngila Mwase has worked with the African Union and regional economic communities