SA more violent today

ARCHBISHOP Emeritus Desmond Tutu says South Africa can regain its worth by spreading the spirit of compassion .

"You start at the beginning. You start with yourself and people in your immediate environment, the people you would easily dismiss," he said at a ceremony in Cape Town yesterday to celebrate winning the Templeton prize.

The Templeton prize, which is worth US1.7-million (about R15-million), is awarded to those who have contributed to "affirming life's spiritual dimension".

Tutu did not say exactly what he would do with the money, but said: "I will not disappoint."

He also said it was everyone's responsibility to see the divine in others, even in the man sleeping in the street.

Tutu said he had great faith in the youth being able to deliver on this aspiration.

"There is no question at all that young people know what they are looking for and almost all would say it's a spiritual thing," he said.

"I always say, what a pity they grow older and become more cynical," he said, adding that people had to acknowledge the change since apartheid.

He said South Africa became the "flavour of the month" when apartheid was abolished in 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up and citizens were riding high on the Rugby World Cup victory.

"We can't pretend we have remained at the same heights and that's why I say please, for goodness sake, recover the spirit that made us great."

On where exactly the country was failing, Tutu zeroed-in on violence and inequality.

"We've become one of the most violent societies. It's not what we were, even under apartheid."

He said rape, murder, and the high number of road crashes, were worrisome. SA is one of the most unequal societies in the world, and the problem was underpinned by a lack of spirituality.