‘I am amazed that people who understand the history of Europe are allowing your blood to be shed on our behalf… I have a real issue that democracy lives or survives at the borders of Ukraine. And we’re treating it as a Sunday-afternoon picnic.’ This was said by Trevor Tutu, son of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, during an event commemorating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The event was organised by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and Resilient Ukraine, an NGO.
It was organised around a dance performance – ‘We Stand for Freedom’, choreographed by Kateryna Aloshyna, president of the Ukrainian Association of South Africa (UAZA) – followed by a discussion.
Tutu’s suggestion that South Africans were indifferent to the conflict was challenged by Dzvinka Kachur, a representation of UAZA who said that many South Africans had expressed their support for Ukraine, albeit ‘it’s maybe just a little bit delayed in time.’
Kachur added that while Ukraine was receiving support from dozens of countries around the world, the war meant that resources were being ploughed into military expenditure rather than development.
‘Standing with Ukraine will help to restore the international order and to send a message that a mighty country cannot continue its colonisation of its neighbour. It will also stop the Russian recolonisation policy that it’s rolling out in Ukraine and also on the African continent,’ Kachur added.
Speaking for the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Chief Operations Officer Phumi Nhlapo noted that the body had been among the first in the country to denounce the invasion.
She explained: ‘We felt strongly it’s what the Arch would have done. He was a very outspoken person and we felt an obligation to say something at that moment. Archbishop Tutu… did not take a neutral position when he saw injustice was being done. Because he felt very strongly that to take a neutral position was to side with the oppressor.’
[Photo: Maksym Pozniak-Haraburda for unsplash]