Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at Brooklyn Chest Hospital when he received his Covid-19 vaccine. Tutu, being on record as a staunch supporter of vaccination, was part of the group of elderly citizens who received his vaccination along with his wife, Leah. He was hosted by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, the MEC for health, Dr Nomafrench Mbombo and the head of health in the province, Dr Keith Cloete. Picture Henk Kruger/African News Agency (ANA)
CAPE TOWN – Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu had a history of teaching in his blood and served as the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) chancellor for 25 years, during South Africa’s turbulent apartheid-era.
The father of the now late Tutu was a teacher; Tutu himself trained as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal College and graduated from Unisa in 1954. Tutu went on to work as a high school teacher for three years, after which he went on to study theology and was ultimately ordained as a priest in 1960.
Tutu, who was South Africa’s last living Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, went on to become UWC’s chancellor in 1987 and served in that role for 25 years as South Africa formally ushered in the country’s dawn of democracy.
“We are working for a new South Africa and we are committed to non-violence,” UWC reveals he said during his acceptance speech as chancellor.
“The University of the Western Cape is a first fruit, a promise of what that new South Africa could be like. Let us go for it!” Tutu went on to say.
The tertiary institution believes it is through Tutu’s legacy that allowed UWC to become one of the premier higher education institutions in the whole of Africa, and known worldwide for its research and the leaders it has produced.
Professor Tyrone Pretorius, UWC rector and vice-chancellor, said: “His service as chancellor for the University of the Western Cape over an unprecedented 25 years, helped to build the foundation of what we are today.”
“We’ve gone from a Bush College to an engaged research-led, learning and teaching university that is ranked among the world’s finest – and we couldn’t have done it without Desmond Tutu’s leadership, and his inspiring example,” Pretorius said.
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