Certain basic qualities are needed for a political movement to win the trust of the people. One of these is simply to listen very carefully to what people say, what they complain of. All the giants of the ANC used to listen, and they had compassion for the pain of the oppressed. That is no more, and why the ANC can no longer lead. Many remark on the harsh conditions in which the poor and marginalised live in South Africa today. I don't need to go through the list of ways in which their constitutional rights are not being met. What I want to refer to is another model of leadership, which is an alternative part of the legacy of the ANC, which purports to be in the process of renewing itself.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who died at the age of 90, was a powerful, forthright voice, that irked both the Nationalist government and its successor, the African National Congress and its allies, writes Andrew Donaldson.