DESMOND TUTU: AN AFRICAN LEADERSHIP ROLE MODEL (Part 1)

Part I: INTRODUCING DESMOND TUTU AS AN AFRICAN LEADERSHIP ROLE MODEL SERIES
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma

The South African Desmond Mpilo Tutu (1) was in 1984 the laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize. This is one of the most prestigious prizes in the world. Through this award the world recognized in Desmond Tutu a man of peace. He is most importantly known as one of the key figures in South African struggle against apartheid. On the one hand, he played a major role as a theologian, a preacher, and a church leader in the peaceful change in South Africa from an apartheid system to a non-racial and democratic society of today.(2) On the other hand, his wisdom was crucial in the peaceful transition from the apartheid era to a democratic era through his work at the Truth and Justice Commission whose goal was to heal the wounds of apartheid and build a peaceful and just, multicultural and multiracial South Africa.

The main question all Tutu’s accomplishments raise is how was he able to achieve all these things? The answer to that question requires a closer look at his life. And such look reveals, this is the argument of this series, that these achievements are in fact the result of his character shaped by a set of virtues and his vision of the good life.

This series on Desmond Tutu as an African leadership role model looks at the virtuous life of Tutu in order to discover the most influential aspects in his acquisition of virtues (i), identify his most salient virtues (ii), and define the vision of the good life flowing from his character and virtues (iii).

(1) Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa. Baby Tutu found a country dominated by a policy of racial segregation, political and economic domination by White South Africans. He attended segregated schools. In 1955 he married Leah Nomalizo Shenxane with whom he had four children: Trevor, Theresa, Naomi, and Mpho.
(2)Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, “Preface,” in Desmond Tutu’s Message: A Qualitative Analysis, edited by Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, Empirical Studies in Theology, Vol. V., Gen. ed. Johannes A. Van Der Ven (Leiden, Boston, Koeln: Bril, 2001).