Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says he will retire from public life on his 79th birthday on October 7. Photo: Steve Kretzmann
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu today announced his intention to retire from public life on his 79th birthday on October 7 this year.
Speaking at the St. George’s Cathedral at noon, Tutu since his retirement as Archbishop in 1996 he took up the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and then retired again.
With his characteristic laugh and charisma, Tutu said the now wanted to retire for the last time.
He said his schedule had grown “increasingly punishing” and he found himself spending “too much time at airports and hotels”.
“It’s time to slow down and sip rooibos tea with my loving wife in the afternoons, to watch tennis and soccer and cricket.”
He said after his birthday he would limit his time in the office to one day per week until February 11 when the office begins its official winding down process.
However, he would remain involved with the Elders and Nobel Laureate Group and will continue his support for the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre.
But he would be stepping down from his position as Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape, from the UN Advisory Committee on the Prevention of Genocide, and reviewing the list of organisations he is involved in as patron.
He would also stop taking calls from the media.
“As Mandiba said on his retirement: ‘don’t call me, I’ll call you’,” he said to the gathering of journalists with a gleeful laugh.
Tutu thanked South Africa for all it had done for him, and for having proved, during the recent World Cup, that Ubuntu was “a living, breathing principle and lesson to the world”.
He thanked his colleagues for “doing all the work and letting me take the credit”.
He spoke very fondly of his wife Leah, whom he was looking forward to spending more time with and serving her hot chocolate in bed.
“Marrying her was the best decision I made in my life,” he said.
Looking back, he said the highlight of his career was when he introduced Nelson Mandela as president of the new democratic South Africa.
“I said to God, ‘God, if I die now I will be happy’.”
He said although he was “walking around with prostate cancer”, he was healthy and “not about to keel over”.
Asked whether he would be able to stick to his plans of a quiet retirement and resist speaking out about injustice or bad governance, he said: “On the whole I will shut up. Sometimes, sometimes I might find I can’t resist (saying something in the public domain).”
“I think I’ve done as much as I can.” — Steve Kretzmann, West Cape News
Copyright 2010 West Cape News
