J Radebe: OR Tambo book launch, written by Sandi Baai

28 November 2006

Oliver Reginald (OR) Tambo was thrust by history to become a most
cosmopolitan and truly humble leader of great international stature. It is
deeply gratifying today, so many years after his untimely death, to welcome
another substantial survey of his life and contribution, amply illustrated with
well-known but also some rare photographs. Sandi Baai's handsome volume takes
its place alongside Luli Callinicos' detailed biography and Pampallis' popular
text aimed at the schoolroom. They serve as wonderful entry points to a better
understanding of a critical period in South African history, to the study of
biography, and indeed to the larger philosophical questions about the role of
great individuals in history.

For most of his life, the OR story was related in true African tradition by
word of mouth. At times he seemed to become larger than life; at others, and
certainly in the eyes of the despicable regime we opposed, he became something
of an enigma; but at all times his name was linked directly to his
participation in the struggle against apartheid. No one, neither friend nor
foe, can deny that he stood at the centre of the revolutionary tradition that
he helped build, drawing from an earlier tradition of resistance and defiance.
Part of the greatness of OR Tambo is defined by his consistent humility as a
servant of a greater cause; that humility was a major strength, not a weakness,
which nurtured the movement for many decades, and has become a hallmark of
leadership in the African National Congress itself.

It was under his presidency that the ANC developed into a fully-fledged
revolutionary, national liberation organisation, armed with a programme,
strategy and tactics that were all drawn from bitter experience, articulating
the practical possibilities of a human rights culture, and designed to achieve
freedom above all other considerations. Under his stewardship, the ANC adopted
the theory of colonialism of a special type to describe the peculiar nature of
the apartheid system and its place in the world; to describe its resilience and
the resistance of the western world to isolate the regime; and to encapsulate a
strategy to mobilise, organise and drive millions of South Africans towards the
objective of a non-racial, non-sexist, free and just country.

Those years also saw the consolidation of the revolutionary alliance between
the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the organised working
class through South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and then Congress
of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). Those times saw the ANC amending its
own constitution to align its structures more appropriately with the
requirements of the struggle as it had developed, thus opening the door for
full participation in the ANC at all levels of all South Africans, both black
and white.

Sometimes, today, in the midst of the enormous challenge of building a new
country and institutionalising new traditions of governance free of corruption,
personal fiefdoms, ruthless ambition and conspicuous consumption, it is
difficult to recall the power and strength of OR's Radio Freedom addresses,
particularly the January 8 statements of those fighting years. Fortunately, all
of those speeches and his other contributions to journals, newspapers,
conferences and discussions with Presidents and Heads of State are preserved in
print and on websites. Books, such as Sandi Baai's OR Tambo, provide a
narrative that permits an easier understanding of how OR's own words were tied
into the struggles of everyday life. The books provide a popular source to
encourage as many people as possible to gain access to the wisdom and courage
of great leaders like OR Tambo. Readers have much to learn, and much to enjoy
from the way in which the story serves to uplift and encourage. At the end of a
good read, it is extremely pleasant just to sit back and celebrate a good
life.

Thank you for the publicity around OR Tambo's life and contribution. Thanks
to Sandi Baai for adding to the body of literature on this great son of Africa.
I trust that as people are able to read and learn more and more, we shall all
understand better what it takes to rise from a humble rural birth to become a
great leader, a great African, a great internationalist.

Issued by: Department of Transport
28 November 2006
Source: Department of Transport (http://www.transport.gov.za)