Desmond Tutu lauds launch of Agang, Mamphela Ramphele's ANC challenger

June 21, 2013 Archbishop emeritus's intervention will be seen as a shot across the bows of South Africa's ruling party as it faces toughest election campaign yet

Retired archbishop Desmond Tutu, an increasingly fierce critic of the African National Congress (ANC), has heaped praise on a woman who hopes to unseat it from government in South Africa. Tutu lauded Mamphela Ramphele as a "brave and principled leader" who would be contesting next year's general election with a "clean slate". Ramphele, who will launch her opposition party Agang on Saturday, is an academic, businesswoman, struggle veteran and former partner of black consciousness founder Steve Biko, who was murdered by apartheid police in 1977. Tutu's intervention will be seen as a shot across the bows of the ANC as it faces its toughest election campaign yet, with growing unrest over corruption, inequality and joblessness two decades after the dawn of democracy. "I have known Dr Ramphele for more than 30 years as a brave and principled leader who has been ready to take costly stands for social justice," the archbishop emeritus wrote in an article on Friday. "If Dr Ramphele formally enters the election race next year, and goes on to attract sufficient votes to become a parliamentarian, there is no doubt that South Africans will benefit from her experience and her knowledge – and from hearing her voice. "She is an African woman – I happen to think women make better politicians than men – and she is entering our political discourse on a clean slate, so to speak. She is neither a newly disaffected member of an old political party nor the bearer of any party political baggage from the past," he wrote. A strong constitutional democracy was strengthened by the presence of "vibrant and credible opposition", the Nobel peace laureate added. Ramphele's "political platform" Agang will be formally launched as a party in the capital, Pretoria, on Saturday. Tutu said that while Ramphele criticised the ANC, as he had done, this did not mean she should be silenced. "The fact that she may criticise the ruling party at times – as I have – does not mean she should lose the right to speak, or that she does not love her country. Or, frankly, that the ruling party does not deserve it. "Dr Ramphele has spoken of a pervasive climate of fear and intolerance in South Africa, where critics restrict their criticisms to their armchairs behind closed doors rather than risk their capital or their connections or their clout. If we have indeed become a nation that fears the consequences of not kowtowing to the government, we have clearly taken a wrong turn." He concluded: "I welcome Dr Ramphele's arrival on the political landscape.Hers is a voice that is worth hearing, and I look forward to the contribution she will make towards building the society we know we can become." Although Tutu did not state whether he would vote for Agang, or any other party, he made clear last month that he would not support the ANC in next year's general election. "I have voted for the ANC, but I would very sadly not be able to vote for them after the way things have gone," he wrote in Britain's Prospect magazine. "We really need a change." This followed an outburst in 2011 when he threatened to "pray for the defeat of the ANC government" after it refused to allow the Dalai Lama into the country to attend Tutu's 80th birthday celebrations. In his latest statement, he again lashed out at the governing party, saying: "Nearly 20 years into our democracy the graciousness and magnanimity that characterised our political firmament have to a great extent been surrendered at the altar of power and wealth. We read compelling stories of state corruption and misspending in our newspapers every day, not that we can ever be sure they are true because nobody ever seems to appear in court. "We fought for the right to protest, but we abuse the right by damaging property, looting, terrorising others – hurling excrement at politicians! "We laid the foundations upon which to restore the dignity of our poorest and most marginalised people, but we are struggling to build the house," he said. Tutu is based in Cape Town, a stronghold of the Democratic Alliance (DA), currently the leading opposition party. Talks between the DA and Ramphele broke down before she formed Agang, threatening to split the anti-ANC vote.