The Hindu : International : Tutu slams `gruelling poverty'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

International

International

Tutu slams `gruelling poverty'

Johannesburg: South Africa's anti-apartheid elder statesman, the former Archbishop Desmond Tutu, accused the President, Thabo Mbeki's Government on Tuesday of enriching a few while the vast majority of the population stayed poor. ``We are sitting on a powder keg,'' the Nobel peace prize-winner warned. He said that millions of South Africans experienced ``gruelling, demeaning, dehumanising poverty''. He warned that deals enriching already wealthy black people while millions of South Africans remained mired in poverty could be ``building up much resentment which we may rue later''. Bishop Tutu's blistering critique received a standing ovation from the audience and was aired live on national television as he gave the second annual Nelson Mandela lecture. ``We cannot glibly, on full stomachs, speak about handouts to those who often go to bed hungry. It is cynical in the extreme to speak about handouts when people can become very rich at the stroke of a pen,'' he said. Bishop Tutu said the Government and ANC politicians had to listen to criticism. ``An unthinking, uncritical, kowtowing party line-toeing is fatal to a vibrant democracy. Truth cannot suffer by being challenged and examined.''

Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News Update

Stories in this Section

Yanukovich declared winner in Ukraine polls

Pakistan gave Iran nuclear lead: CIA

MPs' move against Blair

Time to talk, Chandrika tells LTTE

Arabs protest 'excessive force'

Anti-abortion clause approved

Tremors rattle Dominica

Tutu slams `gruelling poverty'

U.K. denies terror attack claim

Pakistan's Kashmir panel disagrees with Musharraf's proposal