Johannesburg- With his towering demeanour, there was always an outside chance Archbishop Desmond Tutu would eclipse everyone around him.
By nature a self-effacing man, the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Laureate has been described as profoundly modest, often playing up and validating other people’s contributions. His wife Leah Tutu was no exception.
She looms large in her husband’s decorated career, though many think her role as a wife of more than 60 years is often overlooked by the media.
Speaking to Sunday World this week, Tutu’s granddaughter Nyaniso Tutu-Burris said her grandmother Leah, 88, should be celebrated for who she is.
“You know my grandmother was a woman outside of the relationship also. And I think sometimes people forget that she was a whole person before, she was a whole person during and she’s still a whole person now,” said Tutu-Burris.
“I really do hope she’s celebrated for who she is, not just through him, but for who she is within herself as a woman.”
Often working away in the background, Tutu-Burris believes that Leah was archbishop’s greatest support.
“You know the saying ‘behind every great man there’s a strong woman’ – my grandmother was the embodiment of that quote. Mkhulu was and is the legend that he is because he had a strong woman behind and beside him, who was protecting him, loving him, taking care of him.”
Her grandparents’ enduring love inspired everyone who met them, she said.
“It was beautiful to watch – it’s the sort of love I want. Our grandparents are married for 66 years. I’m 25, so that’s more than twice my age and more.
“After that much time, you guys become one. She loved him even to his dying breath, she loved him and he loved her,” she added.
She said at the centre of their marriage was respect and unconditional love.
“They were in absolute sync. They got married when she was 21 and he was 24. That made them inseparable. When you’ve been with someone for that long, who else do you know? They were literally like kids with each other – they were like teenagers. I know that he’s proud of her. They were so in love.
“He took care of her, insisting on making tea for her. Even at his old age, he would drive himself to buy her a gift for her birthday. They were in the habit of doing gifts all the time. They were always laughing.”
Speaking to Sunday World, GOOD leader and the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Patricia de Lille said that she had learned a lot from the couple.
“The bond that the archbishop had with his wife, Mama Leah, should be a lesson to married couples today that the relationship should be built on love, trust, communication and understanding,” said De Lille.
“This had taught me to follow in their footsteps, as I had been married for 49 years with my late husband. Where there is love, there is a way and great bond as marriage is not just a bed of roses, but people need to be positive and resilient about their commitment.”
She said she had learned a lot from Tutu in terms of life and support that she got from him, especially when she was going through difficulties when she was serving in the City of Cape Town.
“I am grateful that I have been part of his life.”
Reverend Frank Chikane, who once stayed with the Tutus, was touched by Leah’s mothering to her family, as well as a whole army of people that included ANC operatives and activists at the time.
“When I surfaced from underground [ANC underground structures], I had to go to the Tutus and she [Leah] became a mother to me,” said Chikane.
“I lived with them. If you follow the circumstances around the instance when I got poisoned, you’ll know that the Tutus took care of me.
“I went to stay for 10 days at Bishopscourt in Cape Town. At the time, a lot of people [in the movement] thought I was simply tired, but it was the poison that was eating me.
When we got Madiba released, he stayed with the Tutus at Bishopscourt before he could travel to Johannesburg. We honour her.”
Tutu’s long-time friend, Michael Nuttal, in a moving speech at his funeral yesterday, gave mourners a glimpse of the close-knit relationship Tutu and Leah shared.
“Many times you wiped away the tears of your husband for, as we all know, he cried very easily and in the life of our country, both past and present, he had much to cry about, not to mention the wider world, which seems in many ways to be tearing itself apart,” he said.
Nuttal was Bishop of Natal when Tutu was Archbishop of Cape Town.
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