Background

Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp, a city in northwest South Africa. His father, Zachariah Zelilo Tutu, was trained as a primary school teacher at Lovedale college before taking a post in Boksburg, where he married his wife. In the late 1920s, he took a job in Klerksdorp; in the Afrikaaner-founded city, he and his wife resided in the black residential area. Zachariah worked as the principal of a Methodist primary school and the family lived in the schoolmaster's house, a small mud-brick building in the yard of the Methodist mission.

The Tutus were poor; describing his family, Tutu later related that "although we weren't affluent, we were not destitute either". Tutu had an older sister, Sylvia Funeka, who called him "Mpilo" ("life"), a name given to him by his paternal grandmother. The rest of the family called him "Boy". He was his parent's second son; their firstborn boy, Sipho, had died in infancy. Another daughter, Gloria Lindiwe, would be born after him. Tutu was sickly from birth; polio resulted in the atrophy of his right hand, and on one occasion he was hospitalised with serious burns. Tutu had a close relationship with his father, although was angered at the latter's heavy drinking, during which he would sometimes beat his wife. The family were initially Methodists and Tutu was baptised into the Methodist Church in June 1932. They subsequently changed denominations, first to the African Methodist Episcopal Church and then to the Anglican Church. In 1936, the family moved to Tshing, where Zachariah was employed as the principal of a Methodist school; they lived in a hut in the school yard.

It was in Tshing that his parents had a third son, Tamsanqa, who also died in infancy. Around 1941, Tutu's mother moved to Witwatersrand to work as a cook at Ezenzeleni, an institute for the blind in western Johannesburg. Tutu joined her in the city, first living with an aunt in Roodepoort West before they secured their own house in the township.

Education

Tutu started his primary education and played football with the other children, also becoming the server at St Francis Anglican Church. He developed a love of reading, particularly enjoying comic books and European fairy tales. Here, he also learned Afrikaans, the main language of the area.

In Johannesburg, he attended a Methodist primary school before transferring to the Swedish Boarding School (SBS) in the St Agnes Mission. Several months later, he moved with his father to Ermelo, eastern Transvaal. After six months, the duo returned to live with the rest of the family in Roodepoort West, where Tutu resuming his studies at SBS. He had pursued his interest in Christianity and at the age of 12 underwent confirmation at St Mary's Church, Roodepoort.

Tutu failed the arithmetic component of his primary school exam, but despite this, his father secured him entry to the Johannesburg Bantu High School in 1945, where he excelled academically. There, he joined a school rugby team, developing a lifelong love of the sport. Outside of school, he earned money selling oranges and as a caddie for white golfers. To avoid the expense of a daily train commute to school, he briefly lived with family nearer to Johannesburg, before moving back in with his parents when they relocated to Munsieville. He then returned to Johannesburg by moving into a hostel that was part of the Anglican complex surrounding the Church of Christ the King in Sophiatown. He became a server at the church and came under the influence of its priest, Trevor Huddleston; later biographer Shirley du Boulay suggested that Huddleston was "the greatest single influence" in Tutu's life. In 1947, Tutu contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalised in Rietfontein for 18 months, during which he spent much of his time reading and was regularly visited by Huddleston. In the hospital, he underwent a circumcision to mark his transition to manhood. He returned to school in 1949 and took his national exams in late 1950, gaining a second-class pass.

Wanting to become a doctor, Desmond Tutu secured admission to study medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand; however, his parents could not afford the tuition fees. Instead, he turned toward teaching, gaining a government scholarship to start a course at Pretoria Bantu Normal College, a teacher training institution, in 1951. There, he served as treasurer of the Student Representative Council, helped to organise the Literacy and Dramatic Society, and chaired the Cultural and Debating Society for two years. It was during one local debating event that he first met the lawyer - and future president of South Africa - Nelson Mandela; the latter did not remember the meeting, and they would not encounter each other again until 1990. At the college, Tutu attained his Transvaal Bantu Teachers Diploma, having gained advice about taking exams from the activist Robert Sobukwe. He had also taken five correspondence courses provided by the University of South Africa (UNISA), graduating in the same class as future Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.

Tutu was admitted to St Peter's Theological College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, which was run by the Anglican Community of the Resurrection. At the college, Tutu studied the Bible, Anglican doctrine, church history, and Christian ethics, earning a Licentiate of Theology degree. The college's principal, Godfrey Pawson, wrote that Tutu "has exceptional knowledge and intelligence and is very industrious. At the same time he shows no arrogance, mixes in well and is popular... He has obvious gifts of leadership." He won the archbishop's annual essay prize for his discussion of Christianity and Islam.

Many in South Africa's white-dominated Anglican establishment felt the need for a greater number of indigenous Africans in positions of ecclesiastical authority; to assist in this, Aelfred Stubbs proposed that Tutu be trained as a theology teacher at King's College London (KCL) in Britain. Funding was secured from the International Missionary Council's Theological Education Fund (TEF), and the government agreed to give the Tutus permission to move to Britain. They duly did so in September 1962. At KCL's theology department, Tutu studied under theologians like Dennis Nineham, Christopher Evans, Sydney Evans, Geoffrey Parrinden, and Eric Mascall. Tutu was academically successful and his tutors suggested that he convert to an honours degree, which entailed him also studying Hebrew. He received his degree from Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in a ceremony held at the Royal Albert Hall. Nearing the end of his bachelor of arts studies, he decided to continue on to a master's degree, securing a TEF grant to fund it; he studied for this degree from October 1965 until September 1966, completing his dissertation on Islam in West Africa.

Career

From 1972 to 1975 he served as an associate director for the World Council of Churches. He was appointed dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg in 1975, the first black South African to hold that position. From 1976 to 1978 Tutu served as bishop of Lesotho.

In 1978 Tutu accepted an appointment as the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches and became a leading spokesperson for the rights of black South Africans. During the 1980s he played an unrivaled role in drawing national and international attention to the iniquities of apartheid. He emphasized nonviolent means of protest and encouraged the application of economic pressure by countries dealing with South Africa. The award of the 1984 Nobel Prize for Peace to Tutu sent a significant message to South African Pres. P.W. Botha’s administration. In 1985, at the height of the township rebellions in South Africa, Tutu was installed as Johannesburg’s first black Anglican bishop, and in 1986 he was elected the first black archbishop of Cape Town, thus becoming the primate of South Africa’s 1.6 million-member Anglican church. In 1988 Tutu took a position as chancellor of the University of the Western Cape in Bellville, South Africa.

During South Africa’s moves toward democracy in the early 1990s, Tutu propagated the idea of South Africa as “the Rainbow Nation,” and he continued to comment on events with varying combinations of trenchancy and humour. In 1995 South African Pres. Nelson Mandela appointed Tutu head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated allegations of human rights abuses during the apartheid era.

Tutu retired from the primacy in 1996 and became archbishop emeritus. In July 2010 he announced his intention to effectively withdraw from public life in October, though he said he would continue his work with the Elders, a group of international leaders he cofounded in 2007 for the promotion of conflict resolution and problem solving throughout the world. On October 7, 2010 - his 79th birthday - he began his retirement.

Tutu authored or coauthored numerous publications, including The Divine Intention (1982), a collection of his lectures; Hope and Suffering (1983), a collection of his sermons; No Future Without Forgiveness (1999), a memoir from his time as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time (2004), a collection of personal reflections; and Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference (2010), reflections on his beliefs about human nature.

Achievements

• 

  Desmond Tutu went down in history as a leading spokesperson for the rights of black South Africans. He helped to draw international attention to the sorry state of apartheid in South Africa. He garnered international fame for his works and was honored with the 1984 Nobel Prize for Peace. Tutu also gained many international awards and honorary degrees, particularly in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and United States. By 2003, he had approximately 100 honorary degrees; he was, for example, the first person to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Ruhr University of West Germany, and only the third person whom Columbia University in the U.S. agreed to award an honorary doctorate off-campus to. Many schools and scholarships were named after him. For instance, in 2000 the Munsieville Library in Klerksdorp was renamed the Desmond Tutu Library. At Fort Hare University, the Desmond Tutu School of Theology was launched in 2002.
  
  In 2008, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois proclaimed 13 May 'Desmond Tutu Day'. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of St. John in September 2017. In 2010 Desmond Tutu delivered the Bynum Tudor Lecture at the University of Oxford and became Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford. In 2013, he received the £1.1 m ($1.6 m) Templeton Prize for "his life-long work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness". In 2018 the fossil of a Devonian tetrapod was found in Grahamstown by Rob Gess of the Albany Museum; this tetrapod was named Tutusius umlambo in Tutu's honour.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World

    (Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Chair ...)

    2015
  • The Rainbow People of God: The Making of a Peaceful Revolution

    (Letters, sermons, and other moving documents written by t...)

    1994
  • God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time

    (Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has long been admired through...)

    2004
  • Dignity: Its Essential Role in Resolving Conflict

    (The first comprehensive exploration of dignity, its role ...)

    1997
  • Desmond and the Very Mean Word

    (Based on a true story from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s chil...)

    2012
  • No Future Without Forgiveness

    (The establishment of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliat...)

    1999
  • Hope and suffering: Sermons and speeches

    (Spoken words of Bishop Tutu of South Africa; delivered be...)

    1983
  • An African Prayer Book

    (Prayer, our conversation with God, needs no set formulas ...)

    2000
  • Crying in the Wilderness

    (The Struggle for Justice in South Africa )

    1982
  • Worshiping Church in Africa 1995

Religion

Tutu was attracted to Anglicanism because of what he saw as its tolerance and inclusiveness, its appeal to reason alongside scripture and tradition, and the freedom that its constituent churches had from any centralized authority. Tutu's approach to Anglicanism has been characterised as Anglo-Catholic in nature. He regarded the Anglican Communion as a family, replete with its internal squabbles.

Tutu rejected the idea that any particular variant of theology was universally applicable, instead maintaining that all understandings of God had to be "contextual" in relating to the socio-cultural conditions in which they existed. In the 1970s, Tutu became an advocate of both black theology and African theology, seeking ways to fuse the two schools of Christian theological thought. Unlike other theologians, like John Mbiti, who saw the traditions as largely incompatible, Tutu emphasised the similarities between the two. He believed that both theological approaches had arisen in contexts where black humanity had been defined in terms of white norms and values, in societies where "to be really human", the black man "had to see himself and to be seen as a chocolate coloured white man." He also argued that both black and African theology shared a repudiation of the supremacy of Western values. In doing so he spoke of an underlying unity of Africans and the African diaspora, stating that "All of us are bound to Mother Africa by invisible but tenacious bonds. She has nurtured the deepest things in us blacks."

He became, according to Du Boulay, "one of the most eloquent and persuasive communicators" of black theology. He expressed his views on theology largely through sermons and addresses rather than in extended academic treatises. Tutu expressed the view that Western theology sought answers to questions that Africans were not asking. For Tutu, two major questions were being posed by African Christianity: how to replace imported Christian expressions of faith with something authentically African, and how to liberate people from bondage. He believed that there were many comparisons to be made between contemporary African understandings of God and those featured in the Old Testament. He nevertheless criticised African theology for failing to sufficiently address contemporary societal problems, and suggested that to correct this it should learn from the black theology tradition.

When chairing the TRC, Tutu advocated an explicitly Christian model of reconciliation, as part of which he believed that South Africans had to face up to the damages that they had caused and accept the consequences of their actions. As part of this, he believed that the perpetrators and beneficiaries of apartheid must admit to their actions but that the system's victims should respond generously, stating that it was a "gospel imperative" to forgive. At the same time, he argued that those responsible had to display true repentance in the form of restitution.

Politics

Allen stated that the theme running through Tutu's campaigning was that of "democracy, human rights and tolerance, to be achieved by dialogue and accommodation between enemies." Racial equality was one of his core principles, and his opposition to apartheid was unequivocal. He believed that the apartheid system had to be wholly dismantled rather than being reformed in a piecemeal fashion. Tutu compared the apartheid ethos of South Africa's National Party to the ideas of the Nazi Party, and drew comparisons between apartheid policy and the Holocaust. He noted that whereas the latter was a quicker and more efficient way of exterminating whole populations, the National Party's policy of forcibly relocating black South Africans to areas where they lacked access to food and sanitation had much the same result. In his words, "Apartheid is as evil and as vicious as Nazism and Communism".

Despite his experiences under the white-minority government, Tutu never became anti-white, in part due to the many positive experiences that he had had with white people in both South Africa and Britain. He promoted racial reconciliation between South Africa's different communities, believing that most blacks fundamentally wanted to live in harmony with whites, although he stressed that reconciliation would only be possible among equals, after blacks had been given full civil rights. In his speeches, he stressed that it was apartheid itself - rather than white people - that was the enemy. He tried to cultivate goodwill from the country's white community, making a point of showing white individuals gratitude when they made concessions to black demands. He also spoke to many white audiences, urging them to support his cause, referring to it as the "winning side", and reminding them that when apartheid had been overthrown, black South Africans would remember who their friends had been. When he held public prayers, he always included mention of those who upheld the apartheid system, such as politicians and police, as well as the system's victims, emphasising his view that all humans were the children of God. He stated that "the people who are perpetrators of injury in our land are not sporting horns or tails. They're just ordinary people who are scared. Wouldn't you be scared if you were outnumbered five to one?"

Tutu was always committed to non-violent activism, and in his speeches was also cautious never to threaten or endorse violence, even when he warned that it was a likely outcome of government policy. He nevertheless described himself as a "man of peace" rather than a pacifist. He for instance accepted that violence had been necessary to stop Nazism. In the South African situation, he criticised the use of violence by both the government and anti-apartheid groups, although was also critical of white South Africans who would only condemn the use of violence by the latter, regarding such a position as a case of a double standard. To end apartheid, he advocated foreign economic pressure be put on South Africa. To critics who claimed that this measure would only cause further hardship for impoverished black South Africans, he responded that said communities were already experiencing significant hardship and that it would be better if they were "suffering with a purpose".

During the apartheid period, he criticised the black leaders of the Bantustans, describing them as "largely corrupt men looking after their own interests, lining their pockets"; Buthelezi, the leader of the Zulu Bantustan, privately claimed that there was "something radically wrong" with Tutu's personality. In the 1980s, he also condemned Western political leaders, namely Reagan, Thatcher, and West Germany's Helmut Kohl, for retaining links with the South African government, stipulating that "support of this racist policy is racist". Regarding Reagan, he stated that although he once thought him a "crypto-racist" for his soft stance on the National Party administration, he would "say now that he is a racist pure and simple". He and his wife boycotted a lecture given at the Federal Theological Institute by former British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home in the 1960s; Tutu noted that they did so because Britain's Conservative Party had "behaved abominably over issues which touched our hearts most nearly". Later in life, he also spoke out against various African leaders, for instance describing Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe as the "caricature of an African dictator", who had "gone bonkers in a big way".

According to Du Boulay, "Tutu's politics spring directly and inevitably from his Christianity". He believed that it was the duty of Christians to oppose unjust laws, and that there could be no separation between the religious and the political just as - according to Anglican theology - there is no separation between the spiritual realm (the Holy Ghost) and the material one (Jesus Christ). However, he was adamant that he was not personally a politician. He felt that religious leaders like himself should stay outside of party politics, citing the example of Abel Muzorewa in Zimbabwe, Makarios III in Cyprus, and Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran as examples in which such crossovers proved problematic. He tried to avoid alignment with any particular political party; in the 1980s he for instance signed a plea urging anti-apartheid activists in the United States to support both the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). Du Boulay however noted that Tutu was "most at home" with the UDF umbrella organisation, and that his views on a multi-racial alliance against apartheid placed him closer to the approach of the ANC and UDF than the blacks-only approach favoured by the PAC and Black Consciousness groups like AZAPO. When, in the late 1980s, there were suggestions that he should take political office, he rejected the idea.

When pressed to describe his ideological position, Tutu has described himself as a socialist. In 1986, he related that "All my experiences with capitalism, I'm afraid, have indicated that it encourages some of the worst features in people. Eat or be eaten. It is underlined by the survival of the fittest. I can't buy that. I mean, maybe it's the awful face of capitalism, but I haven't seen the other face." Also in the 1980s, he was reported as saying that "apartheid has given free enterprise a bad name". While identifying with socialism, he opposed forms of socialism like Marxism-Leninism which promoted communism, being critical of Marxism-Leninism's promotion of atheism. Tutu has often used the aphorism that "African communism" is an oxymoron because - in his view - Africans are intrinsically spiritual and this conflicts with the atheistic nature of Marxism. He was critical of the Marxist governments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, comparing the way that they treated their populations with the way that the National Party treated South Africans. In 1985, he stated that he hated Marxism-Leninism "with every fiber of my being" although sought to explain why black South Africans turned to it as an ally: "when you are in a dungeon and a hand is stretched out to free you, you do not ask for the pedigree of the hand owner."

Mandela had foregrounded the idea of Ubuntu as being of importance to South Africa's political framework. In 1986, Tutu had defined Ubuntu: "It refers to gentleness, to compassion, to hospitality, to openness to others, to vulnerability, to be available to others and to know that you are bound up with them in the bundle of life." Reflecting this view of ubuntu, Tutu was fond of the Xhosa saying that "a person is a person through other persons".

Views

Since the demise of apartheid in South Africa, Tutu has campaigned to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.

Quotations: "You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together."

"I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights."

"Without forgiveness, there's no future."

"We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low."

"A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons."

"Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity."

"I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum."

"Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are."

Membership

Desmond Tutu is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. He is also a Bynum Tudor Fellow and an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians.

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  2007

  African Academy of Sciences

• 

  2007

  Guild of Church Musicians

Personality

Du Boulay noted that Tutu was "a man of many layers" and "contradictory tensions". His personality has been described as warm, exuberant, and outgoing. Du Boulay noted that his "typical African warmth and a spontaneous lack of inhibition" proved shocking to many of the "reticent English" whom he encountered when in England, but that it also meant that he had the "ability to endear himself to virtually everyone who actually meets him".

Du Boulay noted that as a child, Tutu had been hard-working and "unusually intelligent". She added that he had a "gentle, caring temperament and would have nothing to do with anything that hurt others", commenting on how he had "a quicksilver mind a disarming honesty". Tutu was rarely angry in his personal contacts with others, although could become so if he felt that his integrity was being challenged. He had a tendency to be highly trusting, something which some of those close to whom sometimes believed was unwise in various situations. He was also reportedly bad at managing finances and prone to overspending, resulting in accusations of irresponsibility and extravagance.

Tutu had a passion for preserving African traditions of courtesy. He could be offended by discourteous behaviour and careless language, as well as by swearing and ethnic slurs. He could get very upset if a member of his staff forgot to thank him or did not apologise for being late to a prayer session. Tutu also disliked gossip and discouraged it among his staff. He was very punctual, and insisted on punctuality among those in his employ. Du Boulay noted that "his attention to the detail of people's lives is remarkable", for he would be meticulous in recording and noting people's birthdays and anniversaries. He was attentive to his parishioners, making an effort to regularly visit and spend time with them; this included making an effort to visit parishioners who disliked him.

According to Du Boulay, Tutu had "a deep need to be loved", a facet that the clergyman recognised about himself and referred to as a "horrible weakness". Tutu has also been described as being sensitive, and very easily hurt, an aspect of his personality which he concealed from the public eye; Du Boulay noted that he "reacts to emotional pain" in an "almost childlike way". He never denied being ambitious, and acknowledged that he enjoyed the limelight which his position gave him, something that his wife often teased him about. He was, according to Du Boulay, "a man of passionate emotions" who was quick to both laugh and cry.

As well as English, Tutu could speak Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, and Xhosa. Tutu was often praised for his public speaking abilities; Du Boulay noted that his "star quality enables him to hold an audience spellbound". Gish noted that "Tutu's voice and manner could light up an audience; he never sounded puritanical or humourless". Quick witted, he used humour to try and win over audiences. He had a talent for mimicry but, according to Du Boulay, "his humour has none of the cool acerbity that makes for real wit". His application of humour included jokes that made a point about apartheid; "the whites think the black people want to drive them into the sea. What they forget is, with apartheid on the beaches - we can't even go to the sea." In a speech made at the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Vancouver, he for instance drew laughs from the audience for referring to South Africa as having a "few local problems".

Tutu has had a lifelong love of literature and reading, and was a fan of cricket. To relax, he enjoyed listening to classical music and reading books on politics or religion. His favourite foods included samosas, marshmallows, fat cakes, and Yogi Sip. When hosts asked what his culinary tastes were, his wife responded: "think of a five year old". Tutu awoke at 4 am each morning, before engaging in an early morning walk, prayers, and the Eucharist. On Fridays, he fasted until supper.

Tutu was a committed Christian since boyhood. Prayer was a big part of his life; he often spent an hour in prayer at the start of each day, and would ensure that every meeting or interview that he was part of was preceded by a short prayer. He was even known to often pray while driving. He reads the Bible every day. Tutu says he reads the Bible every day and recommends that people read it as a collection of books, not a single constitutional document: "You have to understand is that the Bible is really a library of books and it has different categories of material," he said. "There are certain parts which you have to say no to. The Bible accepted slavery. St Paul said women should not speak in church at all and there are people who have used that to say women should not be ordained. There are many things that you shouldn't accept."

Physical Characteristics: Hair color - gray

Eyes color - blue

Quotes from others about the person

• "(Tutu's) extravert nature conceals a private, introvert side that needs space and regular periods of quiet; his jocularity runs alongside a deep seriousness; his occasional bursts of apparent arrogance mask a genuine humility before God and his fellow men. He is a true son of Africa who can move easily in European and American circles, a man of the people who enjoys ritual and episcopal splendour, a member of an established Church, in some ways a traditionalist, who takes a radical, provocative and fearless stand against authority if he sees it to be unjust. It is usually the most spiritual who can rejoice in all created things and Tutu has no problem in reconciling the sacred and the secular, but critics note a conflict between his socialist ideology and his desire to live comfortably, dress well and lead a life that, while unexceptional in Europe or America, is considered affluent, tainted with capitalism, in the eyes of the deprived black community of South Africa." - Shirley du Boulay on Tutu's personality

Interests

• Politicians

  Nelson Mandela

• Writers

  The Bible, Books on politics or religion

• Sport & Clubs

  Cricket

• Music & Bands

  Classical music

Connections

On 2 July 1955, Tutu married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, a teacher whom he had met while at college. They had four children: Trevor Thamsanqa, Theresa Thandeka, Naomi Nontombi and Mpho Andrea, all of whom attended the Waterford Kamhlaba School in Swaziland. Du Boulay referred to him as "a loving and concerned father", while Allen described him as a "loving but strict father" to his children.

Father:

Zachariah Zelilo Tutu

Zachariah Zelilo Tutu, was from the amaFengu branch of Xhosa and had grown up in Gcuwa, Eastern Cape. He trained as a primary school teacher at Lovedale college before taking a post in Boksburg. In the late 1920s, he took a job in Klerksdorp; in the Afrikaaner-founded city, he and his wife resided in the black residential area. Established in 1907, it was then known as the "native location" although was later renamed Makoetend. The native location housed a diverse community; although most residents were Tswana, it also housed Xhosa, Sotho, and a few Indian traders. Zachariah worked as the principal of a Methodist primary school and the family lived in the schoolmaster's house, a small mud-brick building in the yard of the Methodist mission.

Mother:

Aletta Tutu

Wife:

Nomalizo Leah Tutu

(14 October 1933)

She is a South African activist and the wife of Desmond Tutu.

Daughter:

Naomi Nontombi Tutu

Daughter:

Mpho Andrea Tutu

(born 1963, London, United Kingdom)

Daughter:

Theresa Thandeka Tutu

Son:

Trevor Thamsanqa Tutu

Brother:

Tamsaqa Tutu

Brother:

Sipho Tutu

Sister:

Gloria Radebe

Sister:

Sylvia Morrison

colleague:

Nelson Mandela

(18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)

He was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

colleague:

Njongonkulu Ndungane

(born 2 April 1941)

He is a retired South African Anglican bishop and a former prisoner on Robben Island. He was the Bishop of Kimberley and Kuruman and Archbishop of Cape Town.

colleague:

Philip Russell

(21 October 1919 – 25 July 2013)

He was a South African Anglican bishop.

References

• Desmond Tutu: Rabble-Rouser for Peace: The Authorized Biography
• (Bishop Desmond) Tutu: Voice of the Voiceless by Shirley Du Boulay
• Desmond Tutu: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies)
• Mandela: The Authorised Biography eBook: Anthony Sampson