Leah and Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch in 2005. (Photo: Karina Turok) A statement sent out at almost 1am on Wednesday made the announcement: Mamphela Ramphele, the chair of the Archbishop Tutu Intellectual Property Trust, was demanding the withdrawal of all Tutu-related association with the Global Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy (WMD).
A lawyer’s letter had been sent to the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation on Tuesday — effectively pitting two Tutu sister organisations against each other.
While the Tutu Foundation is the custodian of the legacy of the Tutus, the Tutu Intellectual Property Trust is the custodian of all IP related to Desmond and Leah Tutu.
On Wednesday afternoon, Daily Maverick learned that the Tutu Foundation had been left with no option but to comply with Ramphele’s demand and withdraw from the event.
It is the latest episode in the controversy that has swirled around the global democracy summit, slated to host 500 civil society activists from 100 countries in Johannesburg this week. Among the keynote speakers are Filipino editor Maria Ressa, the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who also serves as the Global Assembly’s secretariat chair, and Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi.
The crux of the issue: the conference is partly organised and funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a bipartisan (created jointly by Republicans and Democrats) non-profit institution which receives funding from the US Congress to support “democratic goals” around the world.
As Daily Maverick reported last week, critics like trade unionist Zwelinzima Vavi have objected to the involvement of NED on the grounds that — in Vavi’s words — it is a “soft-power manipulation” instrument on the part of the US government, aimed at “advancing the US foreign policy agenda for over 40 years”.
Others in civil society maintain that this posture is simplistic and point to the role played by NED in funding key projects to uphold South African democracy.
Activist Mark Heywood (a former Maverick Citizen editor) told Daily Maverick that the opposition to the conference, which has been amplified by media outlets like Iqbal Surve’s IOL, resembled a “disinformation campaign”.
Tutu v Tutu
The disagreement between those tasked with upholding Desmond Tutu’s reputation on the issue of whether to support the democracy conference spilt into the public domain late on Tuesday with the leaking of the lawyer’s letter by the Ramphele camp from the Tutu IP Trust.
The letter, sent by the law firm Spoor & Fisher, demanded that the Tutu Foundation “withdraws from the WMD Assembly entirely and in any manner whatsoever, and does not use any of the Tutu IP, including but not limited to the Archbishop’s name, image and likeness, in relation to the WMD Assembly, in any manner whatsoever”.
The specific concern appeared to be around a travelling exhibition on the late Tutu which was on show at the conference, and the possibility that the Tutu Foundation’s participation would be seen to give legitimacy to the US’s complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza as a result of the involvement of NED.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/ED_491812.jpg "The chair of the Archbishop Tutu Intellectual Property Trust, Dr Mamphela Ramphele. (Photo: ER Lombard / Gallo Images)")
The lawyer’s letter stated: “Our client is of the view that [the Tutu exhibition at the conference] will lack the appropriate context, and that there is a very real risk that the exhibit will be perceived as lending legitimacy to the NED and the policies it perpetuates.”
Ramphele approached lawyers after the refusal of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation to withdraw from the event.
In a letter sent to the Tutu IP Trust by Tutu Foundation CEO Janet Jobson, the foundation wrote: “We fully understand the call for protest action against the US for its complicity in the Gazan genocide; and join in this condemnation. However, we feel that the target of this action against the Global Assembly, which is a platform in which the vast majority of participants, and the most prominent contributors to the programme, are courageous democracy activists from around the world, is misplaced.”
Jobson’s letter pointed out that the conference included a delegation from Palestine “who have been outspoken advocates against the genocide”, including the leaders of Gaza-based NGOs.
It also noted that the NED “should rightly receive criticism where it has played a problematic role in promoting US imperial interests abroad — just as any US government-affiliated funding does (including the support for the very effective HIV/Aids work done through funding from PEPFAR created by George W Bush, of which our partner organisation the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation receives significant funding)”.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/6T5A8425.jpg "Janet Jobson at The Gathering Twenty Twenty-Four Election Edition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 14 March 2024. (Photo: Shelley Christians)")
Jobson went on to cite numerous NED-supported projects in South Africa of which Tutu strongly approved, however, including the early days of Idasa (the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa), the Martin Luther King/Albert Luthuli Centre for Transformation, and the Empowering for Reconciliation with Justice initiative.
She wrote: “While there is much to criticise the NED for in its actions around the world, it is important to also acknowledge that they played a role in supporting some key organisations during South Africa’s struggle for liberation — organisations that were both directly and indirectly connected with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.”
Jobson argued too that it would be “incredibly hypocritical” of the Tutu Foundation to withdraw from the Global Assembly being chaired by Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa — because Ressa is giving this year’s Tutu Peace Lecture, “as a beacon of courage in standing up for democracy and peace”.
Tutu Foundation left with no choice but to withdraw
On Wednesday, Daily Maverick reliably learnt the Tutu Foundation would withdraw from the Global Assembly.
Heywood told Daily Maverick that the withdrawal of the Tutu Foundation was “very disappointing”, and suggested that the Tutu IP Trust had “succumbed to a disinformation campaign”.
He added that he was glad to see that Cosatu leader Losi had not done so.
“This is a gathering of activists from 100 countries. Many of them are on the front line of struggles risking their lives and freedom. This is a time when we need maximum global solidarity and engagement,” said Heywood.
“This morning, in the opening plenary, I spoke out against the USA, against the genocide, and I called for solidarity, including with people in the USA preparing to resist Trump. The Palestinians here, including a person who fled Gaza when his home was bombed, welcomed and were deeply moved by our solidarity.”
Heywood concluded: “Much more will be achieved by engaging this conference than by boycotting it.” DM