Story: 1997
The picture brings together two of the greatest South African leaders whom I have admiration and respect for and with whom I happen to have some association. Nelson Mandela; with whom I shared the most terrible hardy days of Robben Island has been a mentor who inspired most of us and gave us ground for hope; a leader par excellence who took South African to where she had never been before. Desmond Tutu; a great spiritual leader with whom I worked very closely in the traumatic period of the history of our country when he was General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches and later Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. He was a beacon of light when our leaders were at Robben Island and in exile.
It was a great pleasure to have had these two icons as my guests at Bishopscourt when I was incumbent Archbishop of Cape Town. The occasion was a farewell function for Archbishop Desmond Tutu who, as you know, was my immediate predecessor. The setting is the garden at Bishopscourt which was in full bloom at the time. I had invited our icon and hero, President Mandela to come, given that he had spent his first time of freedom as Archbishop Tutu’s guest at Bishopscourt. Notably also, President Mandela had held his first press conference announcing his message to South Africa and to the world at Bishopscourt. In the background is the UCT Choir for Africa, which graced this significant occasion. What a wonderful occasion that was!