On this day in 1917, Oliver Reginald Tambo was born in a rural town, Mbizana, in Eastern Cape, South Africa.
After 15 years of post-apartheid experience, we are all compelled to pause and reflect on the journey travelled and frame the future challenges in their proper context and perspective.
Africa has produced many legends, icons and superstars but few stand out in our history and psyche.
The future always belongs to builders and it cannot be denied that South Africa’s ugly past produced its own unique superstars, legends and icons whose rise to fame was characterized by pain and personal sacrifices.
It is easy to forget where we come from.
On Tuesday, 27 October, Africa Heritage Society www.africaheritage.com will join many in celebrating the birthday of this icon.
If a bank of hope had to be created representing the men and women who have contributed to shaping the future of Africa, OR Tambo’s name will not doubt be included.
Who was this man? He was a man who spent most of his life serving the struggle against apartheid and yet he could not live long enough to see the flag of independence being raised.
He was born only five years after the founding of the African National Congress (ANC) an organization whose history and destiny is inextricably linked to his.
This day in history is also an important one for it was in 1787 that the first of the Federalist Papers, which called for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, was published.
On the same day in 1978, Egyptian former President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward a Middle East Accord.
What values, beliefs and principles informed OR Tambo’s thinking?
Indeed, he was a man who believed in the justice of his cause.
He never wavered in the quest for a just and equitable South African society.
He was not alone in holding the view that a system that is founded on discrimination could never last.
He understood that the future belonged only to those who chose to do something about the present condition.
He, unlike many of us, he responded unselfishly to the call to action.
Against all odds, he led from the front until death from a stroke at 3:10am on April 24, 1994, a year before the official end of apartheid.
He returned to a different South Africa after over 30 years in exile.
What would he say about us after 15 years of “uhuru”? Would he be satisfied that we have done all we could to advance the cause that took a toll on his life and more importantly alienated him from all the personal pursuits that now dominate our lives?
I have no doubt that he would be satisfied with some of the significant progress that has been made in making South Africa an inclusive society.
He would note with satisfaction that the first citizen of the country is a product of a democratic process. He would also be satisfied that the last 15 years have produced 4 black first citizens without invoking violence and chaos.
The Republic is alive and facing normal challenges that can be expected. After all it is only 15 years old.
Would he be satisfied with the state of the nation? More importantly would he be satisfied with the state of the African family?
The struggle that OR devoted his life to was focused on restoring the civil rights of all the people of South Africa.
This has been achieved but a lot more needs to be done to push back the boundaries of poverty.
Over the last 15 years, the intended majority has not harvested the profits of independence.
In fact, independence has opened new avenues for wealth creation to a few.
OR was a product of the ANC and he knew that the only power the people who did not have power was the power to organize.
He was an organizer who was charged with the responsibility to create an external wing of the ANC with a singular objective to apply real pressure on the regime in South Africa to appreciate the need for change.
He also understood that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
It would not have been sufficient for one to call himself/herself South African merely because one was born in the country.
He understood that citizenship imposes on the holder obligations as well as conferring rights on them.
He also understood that South Africa is no more than a legal construction and ultimately it only belongs to all who choose to be part of it.
Through the efforts of people like OR, Africa is now free.
What are we doing with our freedom? How can we push the boundary of opportunity further so that more can be accommodated?
We are free to make choices and yet we have yet to organize ourselves as an African family that can take the cause further from where OR Tambo left it.
On Tuesday, please take time to pause and reflect on what your purpose is in the name of OR.
There is more that can be accomplished if we chose to adopt the same values, beliefs and principles that informed OR’s choices.
Members of AHS have chosen to use the last day of October being Saturday to celebrate the life and accomplishments of this extraordinary son of Africa.
For more details click: http://www.africaheritage.com/calendar.php?id=49 .
His name is secure in the Heritage Hall of Fame. Indeed, his name is one of the 5,000 Points of Light in Africa.
Some of us can now call South Africa home because he chose to identify himself with the African cause.
He was a giant among the few who dared to confront evil with instruments of change.
Is it not amazing that 15 birthdays of OR have come and gone and we have surrendered in our comfort forgetting those whose sacrifices made it all possible for us to use the addresses that we now use.
By celebrating the birthday of this remarkable individual, we will be compelled to think critically about our own actions and more significantly our own choices to condemn the future to the actions of those that choose to dare while we choose to look back and refuse to be the change that we want to see.
OR is not present to see the changes that have taken place and yet to his last day he never saw the future as belonging to him and his immediate family.
To make the kind of sacrifices that he made, he must have loved all of us so much that it did not matter who scaled the heights of opportunity as long as hope was restored to all.
