Mandela hails Tutu as "voice of conscience"

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 8 (Reuters) South Africa's elder statesman Nelson Mandela paid tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu for his role in bringing down apartheid and said he remained a moral light in the post-apartheid era.

In February 1990, Tutu was with Mandela on a balcony at Cape Town's City Hall overlooking a square where the African National Congress leader made his first public address after 27 years of imprisonment.

He was again at Mandela's side four years later -- when his friend was sworn in as the country's first black president.

Yesterday, Mandela was among hundreds who honoured Tutu, as he marked his 75th birthday at a glamorous reception.

''He's a pre-eminent voice of conscience in our nation, a voice that has spoken with consistence and integrity in all political conditions,'' Mandela said of Tutu in Johannesburg's Sandton business district.

''From prison and exile, we watched and listened as he chastised the apartheid regime. His words and teachings were translated into deeds of courage and commitment as he confronted the might of the apartheid state.'' Despite his advanced years, Tutu has been in the limelight again, increasingly criticising what he sees as the failings of the new establishment in the first 12 years of democracy.

Last month, Tutu lambasted South Africans for failing to build on the gains of the anti-apartheid movement.

He was quoted by the BBC as saying the country was ''sitting on a powder keg'', implying South Africa's new wealthy elite had not done enough to improve the lives of millions of impoverished citizens.

He has also spoken out against the presidential ambitions of controversial former Deputy President Jacob Zuma, whose political star has risen once again after being acquitted of rape and having a corruption case against him dismissed.

The birthday party was attended by Hollywood actors Alfre Woodard, Samuel L. Jackson, musician Carlos Santana as well as some of the leading South African luminaries.

Tutu, who like Mandela won the Nobel peace prize for his role in defeating white minority rule, in turn praised South Africa's path to democracy as a model for the world.

''I want to say thank you to the so-called ordinary people out there. ... You are the ones who carried me on your shoulders,'' he said.

Throughout the 1980s, Tutu forced the West to focus on South Africa's black majority under white rule, urging sanctions against the apartheid government.

Tutu headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that many credit with helping South Africa avoid racial turmoil.

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