His speeches and writings will in all probability include a detailed review of the current political situation in South Africa, the kind of society for which the people are fighting, the unity of the people, the preservation of an alliance between the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), the combination of legal and illegal struggle, the mapping out of the short- and long-term goals of the ANC, the strength and weaknesses of the organisation and enemy, the prosecution of the armed struggle, tribute to the brave heroes who have fallen in the battlefield and who have been captured by the enemy and those who are operating inside the country against heavy odds, the importance of sanctions against South Africa, mass mobilisation, violence amongst the people, negotiation with the government, the significance of the successive South African delegations to Lusaka, relations with our neighbouring states and the rest of the world.
Although Oliver may not be quoted in South Africa, the government has been unable to silence either comment on his leadership qualities or the warm praise he is receiving from a wide variety of sources. Here we can only mention but a few of these. Tom Lodge, one of South Africa’s leading political commentators, writing in the October 1985 issue of South Africa International, describes Oliver’s political style as low key, and adds that the success the ANC has had in maintaining its unity and purposes in 25 years of exile is attributable in no small part to his personal qualities. Johan Battersby writes from London: “Mr Tambo is on an international mission to win friends and influence people on behalf of the ANC, and is having considerable success.” The rousing reception he received at the Bournemouth Labour Party Conference in 1985 illustrates the formidable impact his speeches have made on the British people.
All these tributes occurred in just one year and from part of the countless compliments which have been and which continue to be showered on him. In the early sixties when he addressed a session of the United Nations, he even received praise from quite an unexpected corner. In reply to that speech, Mr Eric Louw, then South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, sought to defend the policy of his government by pointing out that it was the very South Africa which was under attack which had produced a man of Oliver’s calibre. The wide-ranging interview published by the Cape Times in November 1985, in which he gave a brilliant exposition of the policy of the ANC on several important issues, was widely welcomed in the country and considerably fuelled the demand for the lifting of his ban so that South Africans of all political persuasions could become acquainted with his views on the critical questions confronting the country.
The ANC is enjoying unprecedented public exposure; Oliver has become one of the best-known freedom fighters in the world, and his speeches will be read with interest in almost all these countries, bringing the message of the ANC to fighters for human rights in those distant lands, and winning powerful friends for the struggle. In South Africa, the collection, in spite of the difficulties that will inevitably accompany its distribution, will constitute another milestone in the development of the ANC. It will not only serve to refute the wild and sinister government propaganda against the organisation, but it will also help to mould the thinking of the youth and to galvanise the masses of the people behind the anti-apartheid struggle.
His speeches, even though they reach us through comments by others, have been of particular significance to political prisoners, especially those serving long terms of imprisonment. Our confidence in him as an individual, in the dynamic and committed men and women around him, their immense commitment to the principle of collective action, and unfailing sensitivity to the needs of their fellow men, has inspired us beyond words, and put the entire freedom struggle firmly on a new dimension.
Cape Town, 1986
Preface
ADELAIDE TAMBO
This book is the result of the persistent pleas of many friends in the struggle against apartheid who have urged for years that a record be made of the contribution of Oliver Tambo to the cause. All his life has been spent in the political struggle for the liberation of the black people of South Africa and for the establishment of a non-racial South African nation. Yet, little of his life’s work has been publicised. This is largely because of his self-effacing character; he has no desire to be seen as some kind of hero. These pages show that he had dedicated his life to his country and to his colleagues in the liberation struggle.
It has taken many years to collect Oliver’s speeches. My family and friends pressed me to have them published, and four years ago I prepared to do so but for some reason procrastinated. However, with Oliver’s seventieth birthday approaching I felt that a book of his speeches would be a fitting birthday present. By producing this book, our three children and I salute him in the name of our people. We owe this book to those compatriots who have paid the supreme price in the liberation struggle, to those in prison, to those in exile and to those who are carrying on the struggle inside South Africa.
In the light of impending success in our liberation struggle, the whole world now looks to the African National Congress and assesses its role and its policies. It is only natural that the President also be judged. I hope that these speeches will show him both as a political leader and as a man.
There are several people to thank:
My children, Tembi and Martin Kingston, Dalindlela Tambo and Tselane Tambo, Daphne and Mahlubi Kumalo; Ben Turok, Director of the Institute for African Alternatives, who edited the speeches and without whose help this book would not have been realised.
ES Reddy, former Secretary of the UN Unit Against Apartheid, helped me collect Oliver’s UN speeches; Professor Tom Karis for helping us find some speeches; Michael Seifert and Helen Searle for their legal advice with difficult and finer points of law.
Finally, I must thank my family for their continuing support and encouragement. I have benefitted a great deal from their young lives.
Introduction
Oliver Tambo was born into a modest peasant household in Bizana in the Transkei on 27 October 1917. He began his education at mission schools in the area of Flagstaff and with missionary sponsorship went on to St. Peter’s Secondary School in Johannesburg, matriculating with a first class pass in 1938. Awarded a scholarship, he studied at Fort Hare University College, a forcing ground for the training of African leaders in South Africa and abroad. It was there that Tambo first met Nelson Mandela, one year his senior. They cut their teeth in student politics and formed a close relationship that was to lead to a legal partnership in Johannesburg in 1952. Tambo graduated with a B.Sc. in 1941, but stayed on for a Diploma in Education only to be expelled during a students’ strike in 1942. This did not prevent him from taking up a post as a science and mathematics teacher at St Peter’s, his old school (1943-47). There he became acquainted with three fellow teachers who were to play important roles in the African National Congress: Lembede, Mbatha, and Mda. He also renewed his friendship with Mandela, who had moved to Johannesburg to study law. In 1944 they became, with others including Walter Sisulu, founder members of the ANC Youth League.
Tambo, Mandela and Sisulu were the most prominent founding members of the ANC Youth League and all went on to hold leading posts in the ANC. In December 1949, Tambo and seven other Youth Leaguers – including Walter Sisulu who became Secretary-General – were first elected to the National Executive. This group shaped ANC philosophy and direction in important ways. It was the Youth League’s “Programme of Action”, adopted as the ANC’s policy in 1949, that prepared the way for civil disobedience against the apartheid regime in the 1950s. It was their leadership that directed the Defiance Campaign in 1952 as a result of which over 8 000 volunteers were imprisoned for defying six selected apartheid laws. It was their shift from an exclusive African nationalism that prepared the ground for the Congress Alliance (with its symbol of a wheel with four spokes) of the four organisations: African National Congress, South African Indian Congress (SAIC), South African Coloured People’s Organisation (SACPO) and South African Congress of Democrats (SACOD). And it was the ANC’s guiding principles that created the mass movement represented by some 3 000 delegates