TUTU THE MATCH MAKER

…Tutu was ‘guiding light that brought Madiba and I together in our formal union’ - Graça Machel

JOHANNESBURG - Humanitarian and former first lady of South Africa Graça Machel has recalled how the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu “was the guiding light that brought Madiba and I together in our formal union.”

“He encouraged us to re spect and perform the rituals of marriage our society de mands. I am forever and deep ly grateful to him for his wise counsel and loving support,” she said in a statement follow ing Tutu’s passing.

Machel added that she was mourning “the loss of a broth er, my loyal friend and my spiritual leader.”

“I, as a Mozambican, can recall a time where the strug gle against apartheid was epitomised by the faces and voices of three giants: the ex iled and revolutionary Oliver

Tambo booming across radios and televisions on the world stage; the imprisoned yet om nipresent symbol of resistance that was Nelson Mandela; and Desmond Tutu, the lead er from inside South Africa whose messages were too penetrating to be ignored and whose voice too powerful to be silenced,” she said.

Tutu had “passionately con demned apartheid and elo quently pressed for sanctions against the racist regime,” us ing his position as a cleric to mobilise the global commu nity. “Every sentence he spoke impacted the lives of millions and both unified and empow ered those in the noble strug gle against apartheid. How momentous a weight this must have been to shoulder.

“And yet he stood resolute and fearless, leading demon strations cloaked in his flow ing clerical robe with his cross as his shield - the embodiment of humankind’s moral con science. And his voice of rea son reverberated throughout the transition to democracy,” said Machel.

She also recalled Tutu’s impact as chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a position he was appointed to by then-presi dent Nelson Mandela.

She said:

Many, like Arch, walked the tightrope, negotiating ways and means to save lives and avert war, recognising the pain and suffering of victims, and simultaneously trying to hold to account the guilty and bring about healing to count less millions.

Tutu’s death had left “a void which is impossible to fill in the public space, and this loss is even more acutely felt in the heart and in the home.” Machel said. – NEWS24.