By Our Reporter
SPECIAL REPORTS
The government of Uganda renamed a road located in the upscale Buziga suburb to Desmond Tutu Road on Monday 17th January 19, 2022.
Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu passed on a day after Christmas, the 26th December 2021. The demise of the South African voice of the voiceless has been mourned worldwide. In Uganda, a name was renamed in his honour.
Among the categories of the people who witnessed the renaming presided over by the Deputy High Commissioner of South Africa to Uganda were the Directors of DSPD, a company representing Distell in Uganda.
Distell is the largest wines and spirits making company in Africa with brands that include Amarula and 4th Street. It is based in South Africa.
Meanwhile, the DSPD Directors are the Tana brothers, Shyam and Darshan Tana.
In their own words the Tana brothers said they were proud to be part of the renaming of the road.
“As Distell/ DSPD, and one of the communities where we live, we jointly participated in an event that was graced by the South African High Commissioner where the Local government named a road in memory of the South African icon, BP Desmond Tutu,” the DSPD statement reads in part.
“It was a pleasure to be part of such a noble cause,” the DSPD directors concluded.
In more than one sense, Tutu was Nelson Mandela’s precursor. Both men foresaw the inevitability of liberation. Both were sufficiently above racial issues to know that, ultimately, what mattered (at least for the transition from apartheid to non-racial rule) would be reconciliation among South Africa’s races. Once the apartheid government accepted the inexorability of change, as it began to do in the 80s, the role of the prophet changed.
The non-racial approach Tutu took defines the approach President Museveni took to criminalize tribalism in Uganda.
Tutu was credited with coining the term “rainbow nation” for the non- racial South Africa that he, Mandela and their various supporters wanted to rise from the ashes of apartheid.
