Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 191724 April 1993) was a South African anti- apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991.

Biography

Higher education

Oliver Tambo was born on 27 October 1917 in the village of

Nkantolo Nkantolo is a village in Mbizana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is known as the birthplace of former African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political par ...

in Bizana; eastern

Pondoland Pondoland or Mpondoland (Xhosa: ''EmaMpondweni''), is a natural region on the South African shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. Its territory is the former Mpondo Kingdom of the Mpondo peopl ...

in what is now the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

. The village Tambo was born in was made up mostly of farmers. His father, Mzimeni Tambo, was the son of a farmer and an assistant salesperson at a local trading store. Mzimeni had four wives and ten children, all of whom were literate. Oliver's mother, Mzimeni's third wife, was called Julia. Tambo graduated in 1938 as one of the top students. After this, Tambo was admitted to the University of Fort Hare but in 1940 he, along with several others including

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

, was expelled for participating in a student strike. In 1942, Tambo returned to his former high school in Johannesburg to teach science and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

League

In 1944, Tambo, Mandela and Walter Sisulu founded the ANC Youth League, with Tambo becoming its first National Secretary and a member of the National Executive in 1948. The Youth League proposed a change in the tactics of the anti-apartheid movement. Previously, the ANC had sought to further its cause by actions such as petitions and demonstrations; the Youth League felt these actions were insufficient to achieve the group's goals and proposed their own "Programme of Action". This programme advocated tactics such as

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

strikes Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

, and non-collaboration. Bundesarchiv Bild 183-T0515-008, Berlin, Besuch ANC-Delegation, Axen, Tambo

In 1955, Tambo became Secretary-general of the ANC after Sisulu was banned by the South African government under the

Suppression of Communism Act The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed ...

. In 1958, he became Deputy President of the ANC and in 1959 was served with a five-year banning order by the government.

Exile to London

In response, Tambo was sent abroad by the ANC to mobilize opposition to apartheid on 21 March 1960. He settled with his family in Muswell Hill, north London, where he lived until 1990. His exile took a toll on him not seeing his wife and three children, but his wife Adelaide supported the ANC at home by taking in ANC members arriving from the UK. In 1967, Tambo became Acting President of the ANC, following the death of Chief Albert Lutuli. He sought to keep the ANC together even after he was exiled from South Africa. Due to his skillful lobbying, he was able to attract talented South African exiles, one of them being Thabo Mbeki. On 30 December 1979 in

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

, Zambia, Tambo as president and Alfred Nzo, then secretary-general of the ANC, met Tim Jenkin, Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris, ANC members and escapees from incarceration at

Phillip Kgosi Prison Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

as political prisoners. Their presence was officially announced by the ANC in early January and Tambo introduced them at a press conference on 2 January 1980.

Guerrilla activity

Tambo was directly responsible for organizing active guerilla units. Along with his comrades Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, and Walter Sisulu, Tambo directed and facilitated several attacks against the South African public. In a 1985 interview, Tambo was quoted as saying, "In the past, we were saying the ANC will not deliberately take innocent life. But now, looking at what is happening in South Africa, it is difficult to say civilians are not going to die." The post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997–1998 identified Tambo as the person who gave final approval for the 20 May 1983

Church Street bombing The Church Street bombing was a car bomb attack on 20 May 1983 in the South African capital Pretoria by uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. The bombing killed 19 people, including the two perpetrators, ...

, which resulted in the death of 19 people and injuries to 197–217 people. The attack was orchestrated by a special operations unit of the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), commanded by Aboobaker Ismail. Such units had been authorized by Tambo as President of the ANC in 1979. At the time of the attack, they reported to Joe Slovo as chief of staff. The ANC's submission said that the bombing was in response to a South African cross-border raid into

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

in December 1982 which killed 42 ANC supporters and civilians, and the assassination of Ruth First, an ANC activist and wife of Joe Slovo, in Maputo, Mozambique. It claimed that 11 of the casualties were SADF personnel and hence a military target. The legal representative of some of the victims argued that as they were administrative staff, including telephonists and typists, they could not be considered a legitimate military target. Ten MK operatives, including Ismail, applied for amnesty for this and other bombings. The applications were opposed on various grounds, including that it was a terrorist attack disproportionate to the political motive. The TRC found that the number of civilians versus military personnel killed was unclear. South African Police statistics indicated that seven members of the SADF were killed. The commission found that at least 84 of the injured were SADF members or employees. Amnesty was granted by the TRC. In 1985, he was re-elected President of the ANC.

Return to South Africa

He returned to South Africa on 13 December 1990 after over 30 years in exile. He was able to return to South Africa because of the legalization of the ANC. When he returned after his time in exile he received much support. Some of that support even came from old rivals. However, because of his stroke in 1989, it was harder for him to fulfill his duties as President of the ANC, so in 1991, at the ANC's 48th National Conference, Nelson Mandela took over as president of the ANC. When he stepped down as president, however, the congress created a special position for him as the National Chairman.

Death

After suffering complications following a stroke, Tambo died on April 24, 1993, at the age of 75. His death came 14 days after Chris Hani's assassination and one year before the 1994 general election in which Nelson Mandela became President. Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Walter Sisulu attended the funeral. Tambo was buried in Benoni, Gauteng.

International relationships

The strong fight against apartheid brought Tambo to form a series of intense international relationships. In 1977, Tambo signed the first solidarity agreement between the ANC and a municipality: the Italian town of

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...

was the first city in the world to sign such a pact of solidarity. This was the beginning of a long understanding which brought Italy to put an effort into concrete actions to support the right of southern African people's self-determination; one of these actions was the organization of solidarity ships. The first one, called "Amanda", departed from Genova in 1980. It was Tambo himself who asked Reggio Emilia to mint Isitwalandwe Medals, the greatest of the ANC's honors.

Honours

In 2004, he was voted number 31 in

SABC3 SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is a South African free-to-air public television network owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). It carries programming in English and, few in other South African languages. It has a number of its own re ...

's '' Great South Africans'', scoring lower than

H. F. Verwoerd Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was a South African politician, a scholar of Applied Psychology, applied psychology and sociology, and chief editor of ''Die Transvaler'' newspaper. He is commonly regarde ...

, before the SABC decided to cancel the final rounds of voting. The decision to cancel the results was largely informed by the fact that the majority of blacks South Africans did not participate in the voting, as SABC3 caters predominantly to English speakers. In late 2005, ANC politicians announced plans to rename

Johannesburg International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second ...

after him. Then-President Thabo Mbeki at this time did not side with this idea and there was a behind closed door meeting deliberating on this. This went on and on and Thabo Mbeki even requested that they name only a small road in the city of Inthokozo in the heart of Soshanguve in Johannesburg then former capital of South Africa before Pretoria became the Capital City.Votes were in favour of the idea and against Mbeki and The proposal was accepted and the renaming ceremony occurred on 27 October 2006. The ANC-dominated government had previously renamed Jan Smuts Airport as

in 1994 on the grounds that South African airports should not be named after political figures. There is a sculpture of Tambo at the Albert Road Recreation Ground, Muswell Hill, close to his London home. In February 2021, Haringey Council renamed the park as the

O.R. Tambo Recreation Ground O. R. Tambo Recreation Ground, previously known as Albert Road Recreation Ground, is a public park in the London Borough of Haringey. The park is in size and has many facilities for sports such as tennis, cricket and football. The site is prot ...

. In June 2013, the city of

in Italy celebrated Tambo with the creation of a park dedicated to the President of the African National Congress. His house at 51 Alexandra Park Road, Muswell Hill, London, was purchased by the South African Government in 2010 as a historic monument and now bears a plaque. Tambo's grave was declared a National Heritage site when he died but lost this status when his wife,

Adelaide Tambo Adelaide Frances Tambo (née Tshukudu; 18 July 1929 – 31 January 2007) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, political exile, and regarded as a hero of the liberation struggle against apartheid. She was involved in South African poli ...

, died and was buried alongside him. However their grave was re-declared a National Heritage site in October 2012. To conclude the centenary celebrations of the birth of Tambo, a commemoration was held at Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Moroka, Soweto on 27 October 2017. This same event marked also the centenary of the sinking of the troopship SS ''Mendi''. The event was curated by Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza and Fr Lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu, together with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation.

Biography

Higher education

League

Exile to London

Guerrilla activity

Return to South Africa

Death

International relationships

Honours

See also

Notes

Further reading

Books