ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu was born in 1931 and ordained an Anglican priest 30 years later. After a period working as a part-time curate in London, he was appointed chaplain of the black Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape. He then lectured in Lesotho before returning to London to work for the World Council of Churches.
He was appointed Dean of Johannesburg in 1975, and later became Bishop of Lesotho. This was followed by periods as general secretary of the South African Council of Churches and Bishop of Johannesburg. In 1984 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1986, to the chagrin of many white conservatives within the church, he was elected Archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the most senior Anglican prelate in southern Africa.
Demonised by the state and media during the apartheid years, Archbishop Tutu's energy, courage and humour made him the best-known face in the, United Democratic Front, a broad-based alliance of churches, trade unions and non-governmental organisations which opposed apartheid during the worst years of oppression. His support for the then banned African National Congress was never unconditional, however, and he pointedly forbade his priests from joining political organisations.
Appointed to head the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by President Nelson Mandela last November, Archbishop Tutu finds himself under the care of bodyguards for the first time in his life. Many within the former security forces, the white right and the Zulu-nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party are bitterly opposed to the commission, which they say will be an ANC "witch-hunt".
As chairman, Archbishop Tutu has two years to shepherd a team of 16 commissioners and up to 150 staff towards the preparation of a final report, intended as the definitive account of crime and suffer ing in the violent struggles for and against apartheid.