Oliver Tambo
Encyclopedia
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
(ANC).
Biography
Oliver Tambo was born in BizanaBizana, Eastern Cape
Bizana is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Mbizana Local Municipality....
in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...
. In 1940 he, along with several others including Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, was expelled from Fort Hare University for participating in a student strike. In 1942 Tambo returned to his former high school in Johannesburg to teach science and mathematics.Tambo, along with Mandela and Walter Sisulu
Walter Sisulu
Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress .-Family and Education:...
, was a founding member of the ANC Youth League in 1943, becoming its first National Secretary and later a member of the National Executive in 1948. The youth league proposed a change in tactics in 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 boycotts, civil disobedience, strikes and non-collaboration.
In 1955, Tambo became Secretary General of the ANC after Walter Sisulu
Walter Sisulu
Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress .-Family and Education:...
was banned by the South African government under the Suppression of Communism Act
Suppression of Communism Act
The Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44 of 1950 was legislation of the national government in South Africa, passed on June 26 of that year , which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed the ideology of communism, defined by the government as any scheme that aimed "at...
. In 1958 he became Deputy President of the ANC and in 1959 was served with a five year banning order by the government.
In response, Tambo was sent abroad by the ANC to mobilise opposition to apartheid. He settled with his family in Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill is a suburb of north London, mostly in the London Borough of Haringey. It is situated about north of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. Muswell Hill is in the N10 postal district and mostly in the Hornsey and Wood Green parliamentary constituency.- History :The...
, north London, where he lived until 1990. It was here that he became a well-known drunkard and womanizer . He was involved in the formation of the South African Democratic Front
United Democratic Front (South Africa)
The United Democratic Front was one of the most important anti-apartheid organisations of the 1980s. The non-racial coalition of about 400 civic, church, students', workers' and other organisations was formed in 1983, initially to fight the just-introduced idea of the Tricameral Parliament The...
. In 1967, Tambo became Acting President of the ANC, following the death of Chief Albert Lutuli
Albert Lutuli
Albert John Lutuli , also known by his Zulu name Mvumbi, was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress , at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa...
. In 1985 he was re-elected President of the ANC. He returned to South Africa in 1991 after over 30 years in exile, and was elected National Chairperson of the ANC in July of the same year. Tambo died aged 75 due to complications from a stroke on April 24, 1993.
In 2004, he was voted number 31 in the SABC3's Great South Africans
SABC3's Great South Africans
Great South Africans was a South African television series that aired on SABC3 and hosted by Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu and Denis Beckett. In September 2004, thousands of South Africans took part in an informal nationwide poll to determine the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time...
, scoring lower than H.F. Verwoerd, before the SABC decided to cancel the final rounds of voting, in light of the embarrassing results.
In late 2005, ANC politicians announced plans to rename Johannesburg International Airport
Johannesburg International Airport
OR Tambo International Airport is a large airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa, near the city of Johannesburg. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is Africa's busiest airport with a capacity handle up to 28,000,000...
after him. The proposal was accepted and the renaming ceremony occurred on October 27, 2006. The ANC-dominated government had previously renamed Jan Smuts
Jan Smuts
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
Airport as Johannesburg International Airport
Johannesburg International Airport
OR Tambo International Airport is a large airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa, near the city of Johannesburg. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is Africa's busiest airport with a capacity handle up to 28,000,000...
in 1994 on the grounds that South African airports should not be named after political figures.