By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
File:: Former president Thabo Mbeki visited Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu in hospital.
Former president Thabo Mbeki has hailed Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for being South Africa’s conscience.
Mbeki said in his final years, Tutu was deeply disturbed by the state of the country and the ANC.
“The Archbishop was very disturbed about what has been happening, what continues to be happening at the levels of corruption, the failure to make the necessary progress to address challenges such as poverty, inequality and so on,” Mbeki said.
“It’s not the kind of South Africa that he envisaged in doing all of his years that he was involved in the struggle and indeed wanted something better.”
Mbeki said the Arch has clearly left a powerful impact on many here at home and around the world.
The former president also said Tutu should not bear the responsibility of the shortcomings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“No,the Archbishop cannot be blamed for whatever the shortcomings were.”
“There might have been shortcomings in the design of the process, in which case we who designed it would then have to take responsibility for whatever blame,”Mbeki said.
Mbeki said the Archbishop and others who were part of the TRC did the best they could in the circumstance to help build the new South Africa.
“I do not think that the TRC fell short of what it was designed to achieve; there might have been wrong expectations out of it. The process of reconciliation is a remaining challenge for us, but that process of reconciliation could not be achieved merely through the TRC process,” Mbeki said.
“The eradication of the legacy of the apartheid and colonialism was not the task of the TRC; that was the task of the government post-1994,” he said.