Desmond Tutu is appointed TRC chairperson

Anti-apartheid activist and Nobel laureate Archbishop Mpilo Desmond Tutu, the first Black archbishop of Cape Town rose to fame in the 1980’s. After the1976 Soweto Uprising, Tutu supported an economic boycott of South Africa. The boycott became successful as disinvestments took place and the rand plunged. At the end of apartheid, Tutu was appointed head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) by President Nelson Mandela on 29 November 1995. The Commission was set up to deal with the atrocities of the past and guide South Africa on a path of reconciliation. Tutu was very vocal in his condemnation of apartheid and has continued to voice his criticism of the new government.  He is passionate about the realisation of a fully integrated South African society and it was he that coined the term 'Rainbow Nation'.