Oliver Reginald Tambo, a man who’s sometimes referred to as the ‘other half’ of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) party, died on this day 31 years ago. He was a giant of the country’s anti-apartheid movement, who unfortunately did not live to see the ‘promised land.’ He died on 24th April, 1993 – one year before the country’s first multiracial elections that brought the ANC to power.
His life was marked by a dedication to the liberation of his people. Tambo was born on 27th October, 1917, in today’s Eastern Cape province in South Africa. He excelled academically and received a scholarship to study sciences and teaching at the University of Fort Hare – the only tertiary institution that admitted Black students. There he met and befriended a certain Nelson Mandela. The two set up South Africa’s first Black-owned law firm, and also helped set up the ANC’s Youth League.
The 1950s saw Tambo rise through the ranks of the ANC. In 1957, he became its vice president.
In the aftermath of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, which saw 69 protesters gunned down by the police as they peacefully protested against the draconian Pass Laws, the ANC asked Tambo to go into exile and set up operations there.
A chief reason was that, shortly after the massacre, the apartheid regime banned the ANC, thereby making it illegal for it to operate openly. Tambo ended up spending three decades abroad.
Tambo is credited with holding the liberation movement together during a difficult time, when it was facing an onslaught from the apartheid regime. In the late ‘80s, the regime reluctantly came to the negotiating table after losses on the battlefield in Angola, and under the pressure of international sanctions. Tambo led the talks, which ultimately resulted in the unbanning of the ANC and the release of political prisoners – including Mandela in 1990. That year, Tambo returned to his homeland.
He’d suffered a stroke in 1989, and in 1991 – as his health continued to deteriorate – he handed over the leadership of the party to Mandela. However, Tambo continued to serve as a source of wise counsel to the ANC till his death. Long live the revolutionary spirit of Oliver Tambo!