Latest News

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2019 Tutu Fellow Ronak Gopaldas has written a paper for the Centre for African Studies at Nanyang Technological University titled Africa walks a tightrope - Economic implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  He begins by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has thrown global markets into disarray and threatens to derail what was an already fragile post-Covid global economic recovery. Beyond the global geopolitical and humanitarian implications his actions also have some serious ramifications for the global economy.  He continues by saying that the question for Africa is whether policymakers can tactfully navigate the crisis.

He says African countries stand to benefit enormously from surging commodity prices, but whether the windfall will be enough to stem the global currency, inflation and interest rate shocks will depend on their willingness to make bold political decisions.

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The organisation started by 2014 Tutu Fellow Linda Kasonde, Chapter One Foundation, has obtained a consent judgement against ZICTA - the Zambia Information and Communication Authority - over an illegal interruption of Zambia's internet service that occurred during Zambia's elections. At the time, President Edgar Lungu was trailing opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema.  Chapter One filed an urgent application to require the restoration of services.

Linda Kasonde, the Executive Director of Chapter One, said that it is the first case of its kind in Zambia and an enormous victory for internet freedom and freedom of expression in the country.

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The integrated vanadium producer in South Africa, Bushveld Minerals, has appointed three new independent non-executive directors to their board, one of whom is 2011 Tutu Fellow Jacqueline Musiitwa.  The other two were Kevin Alcock and Mirco Bardella.  The appointments are of immediate effect.

In a statement by the company, it said that the appointments were made to ensure the board's composition met the high standards of corporate governance expected of London-listed companies and reflected Bushveld's status as a significant producer of vanadium in South Africa.

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In her TED talk, 2018 Tutu Fellow Zoë Karl-Waithaka explains that marketing impacts the livelihoods of farmers in ways that are unexpected.  She takes a look at campaigns promoting agricultural products like milk and avocados. Perhaps 'Got Millet' - to borrow from the campaign promoting milk - can help farmers by creating a greater market for the product.

She says marketing campaigns like "Got milk?" to "avocados from Mexico," influence what people eat more than one might realize. But despite the known power of food marketing, Zoe says farmers in Africa are more likely to receive funding for seed and fertilizer than they are for advertising geniuses.

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2006 Tutu Fellow Palesa Kadi has been appointed as Chairperson of the South African Geographical Names Council at the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.  The South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) is the body that receives recommendations from provincial names committees and advises the government on new geographical names as well as the changing of existing geographical names. 

Changing some of the country's many colonial or apartheid-legacy names formed part of a call made by the arts and culture minister in 2021 for an audit of offensive names and also to write black people into South Africa's history. 

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In a Tutu Talk in December 2021, 2013 Tutu Fellow Catherine Constantinides calls on young people to be active citizens and to commit to social change. 

TutuTalks is a platform for African leaders who embody the values and ethics displayed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu throughout his life of service and is a partnership with the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the African Leadership Institute.

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The Class of 2020 attended their first workshop in the Tutu Fellowship Programme at Mont Fleur in South Africa in November 2021, delayed more than a year by the COVID pandemic.  It was an immersive and emotional experience for the group, with a visit to the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, now home to a permanent and poignant exhibition of our late Founding Patron.

The tour stimulated deep reflection on courage, justice, values, servant leadership and the sacrifices that leaders must make. Speakers included Monica Geingos, Trevor Manuel, Prof Carlos Lopes, and Valter Adao.

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2017 Tutu Fellow Mimi Kalinda says that her company, Africa Communications Group, has been acquired by Marco.  The sale to Marco, which purchased a 51% stake, happened in November 2021.  Mimi is delighted with Marco’s investment in ACG, as it means the company she began can expand across other continents and make a bigger contribution to the growth of African economy.

She says ACG is the first African-owned, pan-African communications and strategic reputation management firm handling communication solutions for global clients across the entire continent. It is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with additional offices in Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Nairobi, Kenya.  It also has long-standing partners in Kigali, Rwanda; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Lagos, Nigeria.  There are also additional affiliated offices in 40+ additional countries across the African continent.

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In March 2020, the African Leadership Institute announced the Associates who had been selected for the 2020 Class of the Tutu Fellowship programme.  As has been the case with previous cohorts, the people selected were exceptional emerging African leaders. AFLI received more than 300 nominees of outstanding quality from 36 African countries, from which the cohort was selected. Before the class could begin, COVID intervened and the programme was deferred until conditions allowed for an in-person convening.

Since that initial announcement of the cohort was made, not all of the candidates were still able to participate in the programme. The names below represent the final cohort who begin the first workshop in the programme in South Africa next week.

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Back on 22 May 2021, President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed Elsie Kanza PhD as one of 22 ambassadors for Tanzania. Elsie is a 2008 Tutu Fellow.  On 17 August, she was posted to the Embassy in Washington, DC, as Tanzanian Ambassador. The US Embassy is considered a senior posting in diplomatic circles.  In May, President Hassan made the appointments, but did not at that time name the posts to which the appointees would be stationed. 

The appointments included senior government officials, members of the military, and government and cabinet advisors.  Prior to her appointment, Elsie's most recent position was as the Special Advisor to the President of the World Economic Forum.

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2019 Tutu Fellow Ronak Gopaldas has written a paper on the double-edged sword that COVID-19 presents to Africa. It is forcing a re-emphasis of the role and importance of the state in a post-COVID-19 era. Bigger government with an expanding reach and relevance has significant governance implications for Africa, which has a record and history of weak governance, ineffective institutions, limited resources, corruption, and mismanagement.

Ronak says that if Africa uses the pandemic effectively for effective structural transformation, it could usher in significant opportunity for political and economic improvement.  If not, pressures will intensify, leaving Africa floundering under the impact of economic and COVID-19-induced shocks.

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2017 Tutu Fellow Natalie Jabangwe has joined Sanlam as the Group Digital Executive Officer. Sanlam was founded in 1918 and has evolved from being an insurance company into a multinational, diversified financial services group offering services to individuals and institutional clients. Sanlam has an international footprint, with a presence in 34 African countries, India and Malaysia.. 

One of Natalie's first major communications roles was the rollout of the company joining the Every Action Counts coalition, which connects experts in nature conservation and climate change with some of the world’s leading digital platforms, financial institutions, and consumer goods firms. The coalition promotes best practices to equip citizens to understand better their role in living sustainably. The coalition was launched by the Green Digital Alliance, a nonprofit which seeks to leverage digital technologies and innovations to enhance financing for sustainable development.

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2014 Tutu Fellow Ladé Araba is serving on the Green Outcomes Fund Advisory Committee.  Ladé Araba is a senior development finance executive and board member with more than 18 years of experience.

The Green Outcomes Fund (GOF) incentivises local South African fund managers to increase investment in green, small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).  The GOF is a new and unique structure that aims to catalyse higher quality and consistent green impacts. It has as one of its key goals the building of a common set of green metrics within the local investment industry.

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2018 Tutu Fellow Oluseun Onigbinde has launched his debut book The Existential Questions: Uncomfortable facts confronting Nigeria after a 60-year journey.  Nigeria's 60th anniversary took place in October 2020. He asks the question 'why has the country failed to live up to its potential', and his answers lie within the 285-page softcover.

Oluseun looks at where his country is and how it got there by examining Nigerian leadership, the country's socio-economic status, its weak legal and judicial systems, and other human development systems and arrives at the conclusion that Nigeria has been grossly mismanaged.  But he doesn't stop there.

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In the second of our Tutu Talks series, 2018 Tutu Fellow Nozipho Tshabalala says that in her role as a facilitator of conversations, she has drawn, and continues to draw, inspiration and guidance from the teachings of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She says she continues to carry these as tools of her trade as she moderates confrontational conversations. 

If you're wondering why she uses the term 'confrontational conversations', she says that in a well-designed confrontational conversation, 'something has to yield', making space for change.  A confrontational conversation is not the same as violence, she says, nor is the fruit that it bears the same.  Rather, she says, questions can be used to reframe the understanding of issues.