OR Tambo
Would the great man every have believed that 99.9% of the time when his name would be used, it would be in reference to aviation! Hopping on a flight to OR Tambo, does not mean you are flying to Johannesburg, and then driving to Wattville pay your respects at his gravesite, but rather it's shorthand for a flight to Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport. This page is not interested in the airport, but rather looks at the life of the liberation flighter.
Nelson Mandela |
Thabo Mbeki |
Maria Ramos |
Jacob Zuma |
Tito Mboweni |
Trevor Manuel |
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Oliver Reginald Tambo (he was popularly known as "O R") spent much of his life fighting for non-racialism, liberty, and championing the poor.
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Airport |
Johannesburg International Airport is renamed OR Tambo International Airport. The renaming was critcised on the basis of:
“What stopped me from going to the airport was because as Madiba arrived, comrades would run to get next to him to appear on the television. That’s what is called a photo opportunity. OR (Tambo) never looked for photo opportunities.” President Mbeki on why he doesn't go to the airport when Nelson Mandela returns from overseas. Ironically, President Mbeki has ensured that comrade O.R. Tambo will now be a continuous "photo opportunity" at the airport, a reminder of money spent on reshuffling the deckchairs of the proverbial Titanic, with no resulting tangible benefits for the disadvantaged. "Oliver Tambo has not died, because the ideals of freedom cannot perish...As you directed, we will bring freedom to the oppressed, we will not fail you." (Nelson Mandela in 1993 after Tambo's death). The cost of changing the name of the airport could have been spent on an educational institution dedicated to opening the doors of learning to the disadvantaged; freeing them economically (and O.R. would have been honoured to have this named after him). |
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Thabo Mbeki |
“He knew that he had joined the struggle to fight for people’s freedom, not to get anything else. He didn’t fight for money or television...What stopped me from going to the airport was because as Madiba arrived, comrades would run to get next to him to appear on the television. That’s what is called a photo opportunity. OR (Tambo) never looked for photo opportunities.” Mbeki on Tambo |
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Great |
Tambo is voted in 31st plaice on the SABC's Great South Africans list. |
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Dali Tambo |
"Oliver Tambo believed that liberty was an act of liberation for the oppressor and the oppressed — a condition for the peaceful co-existence of peoples and individuals. He believed that we should lose the sin, not the sinner — that we should detest the offence yet love the offender." Dali Tambo, OR Tambo's son. |
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Dali Tambo |
"There are many among us who believe that the struggle for the liberation of South Africa is not over, but has merely moved into a second phase — that we are still in the process of liberation. Ask any poor South African…" Dali Tambo, OR Tambo's son. |
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Dali Tambo |
"Oliver Tambo, in whose name I am honoured to stand before you, was a man of catholic tastes...— a humble man — who had no desire to be seen as a hero." Dali Tambo, OR Tambo's son. |
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Thabo Mbeki |
"With no trace of selfishness or arrogance, he saw himself as an ordinary foot soldier, the unsung infantryman in the army of ordinary working people of our country, of Africa and the world whom he loved." |
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Mandela |
"Oliver Tambo has not died, because the ideals of freedom, human
dignity and a colour-blind respect for each individual, cannot
perish...As you commanded, we will defend the option of a peaceful
resolution of our problems. As you instructed, we will bring peace to |
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Mandela |
"Oliver lived not because he could breathe. He lived not because blood flowed through his veins. Oliver lived not because he did all the things that all of us as ordinary men and women do. Oliver lived because he had surrendered his very being to the people." Nelson Mandela on Tambo's passing. |
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Mandela |
"He was the jewel in the crown" Nelson Mandela on Tambo's passing. |
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Died |
OR Tambo dies of a stroke and is accorded a state funeral. |
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July 1991 |
Tambo is elected National Chairperson of the ANC, at the ANC's first legal national conference inside South Africa (held in Durban). |
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OR Tambo |
"It is our responsibility to break down barriers of division and create a country where there will be neither whites nor blacks, just South Africans, free and united in diversity." |
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December 1990 |
Tambo returns to South Africa. |
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Severe stroke |
OR Tambo suffers a severe stroke. He is rushed from Lusaka to London on a plane organised by President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, and has extensive medical treatment. |
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Racism |
"We count ourselves fortunate that we have among our people such outstanding humanists as Nelson and Winnie Mandela, as well as others such as Albertina Sisulu, Greta Ncapai, Dorothy Nyembe, Thandi Modise, Frances Baard, Vesta Smith, Amanda Kwadi, Barbara Hogan and Marion Sparg, people who hate racism and love all humanity enough to be prepared to die in the defence of liberty of all persons, regardless of their colour or race." |
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Kabwe Conference |
Tambo is re-elected ANC President. |
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Mild Stroke |
Tambo suffers a mild stroke. |
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OR Tambo |
"Women in the ANC should stop behaving as if there was no place for them above the level of certain categories of involvement They have a duty to liberate us men from antique concepts and attitudes about the place and role of women in society and the development and direction of our revolutionary struggle. In fear of being a failure, Comrade Lindiwe Mabuza cried and sobbed and ultimately collapsed on top of herself when she learnt she had been appointed ANC Chief Representative to the Scandinavian countries. But, looking at the record, could any man have done. better?" OR Tambo's speech to the Women's Section of the ANC, Luanda, Angola, 1981. |
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OR Tambo |
"We want to make it clear to all our friends that support for the ANC is support for the establishment of a democratic and non-racial South Africa as enshrined in the Freedom Charter." Extract from Tambo's statement at the World Conference for Action against Apartheid in Lagos, Nigeria |
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Morogoro Conference |
Tambo's appointment to the Presidency is approved. |
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Luthuli dies |
ANC President General Chief Albert J. Luthuli dies and OR Tambo becomes Acting president (until 1978, when he is appointed President-General). |
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Umkhonto |
Zambia & Tanzania give the ANC camp facilities to house trained Umkhonto we Sizwe combatants. |
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UN adress |
"Fears have been expressed, however, that if apartheid were destroyed, the lot of the white people in South Africa would become a doubtful one. We think it is right that the United Nations should concern itself with the welfare of all peoples, even groups of peoples. The Charter states that every individual, whatever his colour, shall be protected from victimisation on the basis of that colour. We ourselves have been worried about the fact that in South Africa there is a group of people, or individuals, or a racial group, which have been subjected to torture and indignity because of the colour of their skins or their origins. That is what we are fighting against." Extract from Tambo's statement at the meeting of the Special Political Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. |
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UN adress |
"We do not believe in violence; we do not think that anybody believes in it. We do not want it; nobody wants it. We did not think of invoking the world to invade South Africa. We were convinced, living in South Africa and having lived there all our lives, that if South Africa were effectively isolated through economic and diplomatic measures, and others which have been mentioned in these debates, it would be impossible for the South African Government to operate apartheid. Apartheid would then have to be abandoned." Extract from Tambo's statement at the meeting of the Special Political Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. |
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ANC missions |
Tambo, together with the cooperation of African governments, sets up ANC missions first in Egypt, Ghana, Morocco and in London (by 1990 ANC missions had been established in 27 different countries, which bar China included all the permanent members of the UN Security Council). |
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SAUF |
Together with Dr Yusuf Dadoo, Tambo is instrumental in the establishment of the South African United Front, bringing together the external missions of the ANC, the PAC, the SA Indian Congress and the South West African National Union (SWANU), resulting in the South African United Front (SAUF). The SAUF successfully lobbyed to expel South Africa from the Commonwealth in 1961. After this initial success the SAUF broke up in July 1961. |
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June 1960 |
Tambo attends the Conference of Independent African States in June 1960 which called for sanctions against South Africa. |
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Exile |
A few days after the Sharpeville massacre, OR Tambo discretely leaves South Africa to travel abroad and set up the ANC's international mission and mobilise international opposition to the apartheid system. |
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Banned |
Along with many of his colleagues, Tambo is served with a 5-year order restricting him from attending public gatherings. |
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Deputy President |
With Chief Albert Luthuli (President-General of the ANC) being restricted, Tambo is appointed to the newly-created office of Deputy President-General. |
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Married |
Tambo is married to Adelaide Tsukudu, a Youth League activist and qualified nurse who worked at Baragwanath Hospital (now renamed the Baragwanath-Chris Hani Hospital). |
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Engaged |
OR Tambo becomes engaged to Adelaide Tsukudu. |
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Treason Trial |
Having served on the National Action Council which headed the mobilisation for the Congress of the People in June 1955, OR Tambo is one of the accused at the marathon treason trial of 1956 (after the preliminary hearings Tambo is acquitted for lack of evidence). |
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Freedom Charter |
The Freedom Charter was drafted by the National Action Committee, of which Tambo was a member. |
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Secretary General |
Walter Sisulu is banned (under the suppression of communism act) and Oliver Tambo is appointed to fill Sisulu's post as Secretary General, pending ratification by the annual conference. |
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Secretary General |
Walter Sisulu is banned and Oliver Tambo is appointed to fill Sisulu's post as Secretary General, pending ratification by the annual conference. |
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Lawyer |
Tambo & Nelson Mandela set up a legal partnership championing the poor & victims of apartheid (Tambo had qualified as a lawyer studying part-time from 1948). Mandela and Tambo's was the first African legal partnership in South Africa. |
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Youth League |
Tambo is elected National vice-President of the ANC Youth League. |
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Youth League |
Tambo is elected President of the Transvaal ANC Youth League. |
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ANC |
OR Tambo is elected onto the National Executive Committee of the ANC. |
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ANC |
Tambo is elected onto the Transvaal executive of the ANC. |
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Youth League |
The ANC Congress in Batho (Bloemfontein) formally created the ANC Youth League. OR Tambo (elected secretary), along with Anton Lembede (chairman) Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu (treasurer) are founding members of the ANC Youth League. |
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Teacher |
Teaches mathematics and science at St Peters College. |
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Fort Hare |
Tambo was barred from studying his first career choice, medicine (in the 1930s, South African Universities offering Medical degrees were closed). Tambo studies for a Bachelor of Science Degree (in Physics and Mathematics) at the University College of Fort Hare which he obtains in 1941. He studies further for a Diploma in Education but is expelled in 1942 for his involvement in a student strike (He was elected Chairperson of the Students' Representative Council of the Anglican Beda Hall (his residence), organised a student protest and was expelled from Fort Hare. |
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High School |
Tambo completes his High School Education at St Peters College, in Rossettenville (Johannesburg). At this time all scholars in the Transvaal wrote the same matric exams and Tambo achieved an excellent pass. The African press reported upon his achievement and noted that he was from the Transkei. This resulted in the Eastern Cape assembly of chiefs, the Bhunga, granting him a bursary of £30 a year to further his education at Fort Hare University. |
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Primary school |
From the age of 7 years, OR Tambo attends Ludeke Methodist School in the Mbizana district and completes his primary education at the Holy Cross Mission. On his first day at school the teacher asked Tambo what his name was and Tambo said “Kaizana”. “No”, the teacher said, shaking his head, “You have given me your home name. I want your school name”. Returning home, Tambo's father told him his school names would be Oliver Reginald, and his surname would be Tambo. |
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Born |
In the early morning, Kaizana Manchi is born in the small village of Kantolo some 20km from Mbizana (also known as Bizana), a rural town in eastern Mpondoland in what was then the Cape Province (now Eastern Cape). He was christened "Kaizana", after the opponent of the British, Kaizer Wilhelm (this was his father's way of showing his opposition to the British colonisation of Pondoland in 1878), who's forces fought the British during World War 1. Mzimeni (Kaizana's father) was illiterate, initially not a Christian and had 4 wives. Kaizana's mother (Julia) was Mzimeni's third wife, she was a Christian and eventually Mzimeni and all his dependants (Mzimeni has a total of 10 children) converted to Christianity. |
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Things named after OR Tambo
OR Tambo International Airport |
Johannesburg |
Oliver Thambo Moot Court |
University of Cape Town |
