This is a tribute written by E.S. Reddy to Oliver Tambo, leader of the South African liberation forces. O.R. Tambo and Reddy were comrades in arms, and in constant touch during the struggle in South Africa. Their letters are available on JSTOR. ![]() In many colonial and social revolutions, the leaders of the people have had to go into exile to guide the resistance—or were imprisoned or deported—but continued to inspire their peoples in struggle. The revolution in South Africa is, perhaps, unique in that the leadership and inspiration have been provided in a protracted struggle by a triumvirate in exile and prison: Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress, who has been in exile since 1960, while Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu have been in prison since 1962 and 1963 respectively after short period in the underground. The ANC has a tradition of collective leadership and significant contributions have been made to the movement by many others—such as Chief Albert Lutuli, J. B. Marks, Moses Kotane and Dr. Yusuf Dadoo—but the continuity of leadership provided by Tambo, Mandela and Sisulu has been crucial. Oliver Tambo, who will be 70 on October 27, 1987 has borne the burden of guiding the resistance and securing international support for a quarter century. But his political life is inseparable from that of his two closest colleagues. The three men joined the movement during the Second World War, when African youth raised the slogan “Quit Africa”, in the wake of the “Quit India” movement led by Gandhiji, and were among the founding members of the ANC Youth League in 1944. The League espoused African freedom rather than a mere mitigation of White racist oppression and mass action, instead of petitions and deputations to the racist rulers. The Youth Leaguers were able in 1949, to secure the adoption by the ANC of their “positive action programme” of demonstrations and strikes, and even civil disobedience. Walter Sisulu became Secretary-General of ANC, while Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela were elected to the national executive. The formulation of the strategy of the struggle was , however, not easy. For, South Africa was not a colony since Britain transferred power to the White settlers in 1910, but a country with a system of “internal colonialism.” The Whites, the Coloured People and the Indians constituted a quarter of the population—and the Blacks constituted the majority three quarters of the population. The task was not to oblige an external colonial power to leave but to secure transfer of power from a White minority regime to all the people. The small Indian community had carried on a great passive resistance campaign against discrimination from 1946 to 1948, and had attracted the participation of a few Africans, the Coloured and Whites in solidarity with them. Dr. Yusuf Dadoo and Dr. G. M. Naicker, who had emerged as its leaders, declared that the freedom of the Indians was inextricably linked with the freedom of the African majority and advocated united resistance by all the oppressed people, as well as democratically minded Whites under African leadership. The Government of India, led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, made it clear that it sought no special privileges for Indians and promoted international support for the African cause as much as for the rights of the Indians. The turning point in the South African struggle came in 1950, when the ANC, especially its militant young leaders, became convinced of the need for a united multi-racial struggle against the tyranny of apartheid. After extensive discussions and preparations, the ANC and the South African Indian Congress jointly launched the Defiance Campaign—a Satyagraha—in 1952, in which over 8,000 people of all racial origins courted imprisonment. Congresses of Coloured and White people and a multi-racial South African Congress of Trade Unions were formed and became part of the “Congress Alliance.” They accepted as their common programme the Freedom Charter, formulated by an impressive multi-racial conference in June, 1955, proclaiming that South Africa belonged to all its people and pledging to struggle jointly for the total elimination of racial discrimination. Walter Sisulu, as Secretary-General of ANC, played a crucial role in organizing the Defiance Campaign and other joint actions. Nelson Mandela was the Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign. Oliver Tambo led the campaigns against the forcible eviction of African communities and the imposition of the “Bantu education” system. He also played an important role in forging the united front. As the rulers escalated repression to suppress non-violent resistance, the ANC leadership expected the banning of the organization and mass arrests of its members. It decided that one of the leaders should go abroad to mobilize international support and action. Oliver Tambo, who had been elected to a newly-created post of Deputy President, when restriction orders were served on the President-General of the ANC, Chief Albert Lutuli, was persuaded to undertake this task. Tambo escaped from South Africa in April, 1960, together with Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, President of the South African Indian Congress and Ronald Segal a well-known White journalist. The Indian Government helped them with travel documents and facilities to go to London to meet Commonwealth leaders. Tambo and Dadoo then visited Delhi for full discussions with Pandit Nehru, which led to the forcing out of South Africa from the Commonwealth and other international initiatives. Meanwhile, in May, 1961, a national strike against the establishment of a White racist republic – led by Nelson Mandela from the underground — was suppressed by a massive show of military power. Tambo immediately organized a secret conference of leaders of ANC and its allies in Bechunaland and it decided that an armed struggle had become imperative. The “Umkhonto we Sizwe” (“Spear of the Nation”), a multi-racial military wing, was founded under the leadership of Mandela. And, Tambo had to undertake the additional responsibility of arranging military training for its cadres. “Umkhonto we Sizwe” organized hundreds of acts of sabotage in the next two years, taking extreme care to avoid loss of life, in an effort to persuade the White minority to rethink and the international community to act. The Pretoria regime responded with mass arrests of militants, who were well known and had little experience of clandestine activity. Through brutal torture and savage sentences under draconian laws, it was able to destroy the underground structures in South Africa and the revival of the struggle, both non-violent and violent, under the most difficult conditions. It is largely due to the respect enjoyed by him, his remarkable leadership and tireless efforts that the unity of the liberation movement was sustained and strengthened despite the serious reverse. By the mid-1970’s, the underground structures were re-established and made secure. Mass mobilization against apartheid reached unprecedented levels and armed struggle developed rapidly with thousands of young volunteers. Tens of thousands of people began to defy the law and virtually “unbanned” the ANC. Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu remained in prison rejecting offers of conditional release, as symbols of the indomitable spirit of resistance. The movement found ways to keep them abreast of the struggle and they have truly contributed to the development of its strategy even from behind bars. Tambo in exile and Mandela and Sisulu in prison have thus been the guiding spirits of a revolutionary upsurge involving people of varied racial origins and ideologies, and combining civil disobedience and armed struggle. The authorities are unable to suppress it despite the State of Emergency, the detentions of tens of thousands of people, mass torture of prisoners, even of children and murder of militants by vigilantes. International solidarity, too, has advanced tremendously, though a few powerful governments continue to block decisive action and the anti-apartheid movement has become one of the most significant popular movements of our time. Oliver Tambo has proved an outstanding leader of his people and has earned respect and admiration around the world as a “statesman-in-exile.” I met Oliver Tambo in 1960, soon after he escaped from South Africa, and have been closely associated with him and his family since I became the Principal Secretary of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid in 1963. His broad vision, deep attachment to democracy and non-racialism, tremendous integrity and personal warmth have been a source of inspiration to me. He is the mould of the great leaders of the Indian struggle for freedom– and a sincere friend of India. A brilliant student, teacher and lawyer – in association with Nelson Mandela he ran a legal firm — he sacrificed a promising career to lead the freedom movement. His long exile has been painful with his closest colleagues in prison and he had to resist the urge to be among his people as they fight a monstrous tyranny. Tambo could spare little time to spend with his family – his wife, Adelaide, and their three daughters — or even to care for his own health, as the demands of the struggle have given him no respite. A modest man, he has rejected all honour to himself— and accepted an honorary degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi most reluctantly while encouraging the world to honour Nelson Mandela, who is like a younger brother to him. Indeed, there was no one else to receive awards on behalf of Mandela like the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and the Third World Foundation Award to Nelson and Winnie Mandela. But the numerous friends around the world— whom he inspired and for whom he symbolizes the spirit and vision of the great freedom movement of South Africa— will find ways to pay tribute to him.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
CategoriesArchives
January 2025
|