RIP Desmond Tutu
I met you when you were a mere Father Tutu, and then the police came for my fingerprints
The year was 1965, and Elizabeth Crace (later Lady Elizabeth Johnston, wife of Lord Johnston, the last British High Commissioner of then-Rhodesia) was the headmistress of the Diocesan School for Girls, a rather exclusive school that I attended. She had invited Desmond Tutu to talk at one of our chapel services. As a religious church school (Anglican), we had services directly after breakfast and directly before supper each day of the week. He spoke at an evening service.
In 1966, the following year, when I returned for the first semester of the year, half the student body had vanished. I have often wondered if that drop in numbers had to do with a black man being invited to speak to students. However, Helen Steytler, the daughter of Jan Steytler, leader of the Progressive Party of South Africa, also never returned to the school, and I doubt that Jan Steytler would have been offended by a black man speaking at a chapel service. In retrospect, I think Elizabeth made changes that closely resembled those of British public schools like Eton, and they were not well accepted.
I’m not sure why, but my headmistress invited me to go with her to Butterworth to help Desmond Tutu with some building during vacation time. That was…
