Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo was born in the rural village of Nkantolo in Pondoland, in the Eastern Cape in 1917. He was the son of Bab’uMzimeni and Mama Julia Tambo.

His rural upbringing, his family values and the tragedy of being orphaned at an early age taught the young Tambo perseverance, resilience, and discipline. They also taught him a consensus approach towards decision making, democracy as well listening to and respecting the views of others.

He also learnt the value of hard work and readiness to take on more demanding tasks and responsibilities. It was these values that shaped a young O.R. It was also these values that stood him in good stead in his roles later on in life as a teacher, a lawyer and a leader of the struggle for liberation.

Together with Anton Muziwakhe Lembede, Ashby Solomzi Mda, Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela and Walter Sisulu; O.R. Tambo was a founder member of the ANC Youth League in 1944. Lembede became the Youth League’s first President, with O.R as its Secretary.

It was this generation of ANC Youth League leaders who changed the course of history by infusing a radical programme into the ANC. This programme appealed to the broader masses of our people and thus helped to re-connect the ANC with the people.

O.R. went on to become the Secretary-General of the ANC; the Deputy President; Acting President – after the death of Chief Albert Luthuli in 1967- the President of the ANC and Commander in Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe until 1991. Comrade O.R. Tambo was the longest-serving president of the ANC, pointing to his rare qualities as a leader.

His leadership was at a time when our movement was severely tested, and he became the glue that held our movement together. At the height of repression, in the early 1960s and after the Sharpeville Massacre, the leadership of our movement foresaw that the terrain of struggle was changing the regime was becoming more repressive and on the 31st of May 1961, it established the White Republic.

The leadership of our movement hand-picked Comrade O.R. Tambo and sent him outside the country to establish the external mission of the ANC and to prepare for the difficult times ahead. The key task given to O.R. was to build international solidarity and mobilise support for our liberation struggle. As a mark of his astute leadership, President Tambo executed these tasks with absolute dedication and commitment. At all times, he remained lazier focused on the task at hand.

After the banning of the liberation movements; the arrest and trial of the Umkhonto We Sizwe Central Command in Rivonia; the death of the ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli in 1967, Comrade O.R. assumed the enormous responsibility of leading the ANC, as its President.

During these uncertain and turbulent times, O.R. rose to the occasion. Not only did he keep the organisation together but also he inspired hope in many of our people that the struggle continues, and that victory is certain. He led from the front and with distinction from the early years of Umkhonto we Sizwe – including during the heroic battles of Wankie and Sipolilo; the difficult time of mutiny in our camps, to the infiltration of MK operatives in the country.

Comrade O.R. oversaw the watershed 1969 Morogoro Conference that produced a Strategy and Tactics document that provided clarity about the objectives and the tasks of the moment: the liberation of black people in general and Africans in particular.

President O.R. Tambo had the task of receiving in exile thousands of young militants who had left South Africa after the 1976 student uprisings. He held their hand and guided many of them to be among the finest combatants of MK and operatives of our movement. He had the responsibility to organise and mobilise for their education and military training on the continent and elsewhere in the world.

As a teacher by training, O.R. understood the liberating power and value of education. He presided over the establishment of the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College. In South Africa, as repression heightened, the resolve and courage of our people became stronger, inspired by O.R Tambo.

Many of us as activists yearned for O.R’s mighty hand to hold us as we faced the enemy, both inside and outside the country. We continued to sing; Oliver Tambo, bamb’isandla sam! O.R. also presided over the historic Kabwe Consultative Conference in 1985 from where the ANC, once again, emerged stronger.

In the face of difficulty, he focused the ANC’s attention on the task at hand – the task of liberating the people of South Africa. He always reminded us that the ANC was established first and foremost to unite and serve the people of South Africa.

In an act of visionary leadership, as the apartheid state was nearing collapse, and an opportunity availed itself for negotiations, it was O.R Tambo who set up a team that developed a document on the ANC’s position on negotiations, accommodating feedback and views of different stakeholders.

History records that he worked long hours, improving the document that would eventually become the Harare Declaration. For this, we will always credit O.R. as the author of our peaceful transition and the principles of our democratic constitution.

In 1990, after 30 years in exile, O.R. Tambo handed over a healthy, vibrant ANC – an ANC that Lives and an ANC that Leads – back to the people of South Africa, where it belongs. In this regard he said the following at the ANC Conference in 1991; “I have led this organisation for over 30 years. I now hand it over to you; much bigger and stronger.”

He also advised that; “The struggle is far from over: if anything, it has become more complex and therefore more difficult.” Throughout his leadership, President O.R. Tambo spoke clearly and consistently about the vision of a South Africa we want: a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa.

In his words; “The ANC has offered them the alternative of the Freedom Charter. In terms of that Charter, it is the people as a whole, black and white, who rule and run the country, they live and work together as fellow citizens. It is a democracy in which the majority decides, but it is not a black majority we are looking for, it is a majority of the people of South Africa as a whole. It is a democracy, the kind of justice that cannot be expected of the apartheid system.”

O.R. kept this vision alive in how he led and conducted himself. He placed a high premium on the unity of the people of South Africa and the unity and cohesion of our movement. It was this unity that saw our movement survive for so many years.

Speaking of unity he said the following; “In our millions we have fought common battles together, recognising quite clearly that our strength lies in our unity.” Under Tambo’s leadership, a continuous search for consensus, accompanied by an insistence on discipline

And united action was encouraged. He mastered the art of leading a broad movement located in different geographies on the continent and in the world.

He managed the contradictions occasioned by the ANC being a broad church. In essence, he taught us the virtues of unity in action!

As a patient and skilful listener, he carefully considered all inputs and always endeavoured to find common ground. As a hard worker himself and a disciplinarian of note, President O.R. Tambo managed to keep every- one focused on the task at hand. For that, he was deeply revered!

O.R. Tambo also valued the unity of the Alliance. He understood that the struggle against apartheid will require the mobilisation all forces sympathetic to and willing to advance the cause of national liberation.

He asserted that ours is not merely a paper alliance, created at conferences representing only an agreement of leaders. It is a living organism, borne out of struggle. Drawing lessons from O.R. Tambo, we must always strive for the unity and cohesion of our movement and the Alliance.

O.R Tambo was a determined freedom fighter. He was fearless. He was bold and courageous. In the face of extreme difficulty, he remained steely in his determination to liberate the people of South Africa. For instance, as the apartheid machinery intensified its offensive on the liberation movement and its allies, such as was the case with the Maseru Massacre; O.R. remained unflinching.

At the funeral of the victims of the Maseru Massacre in 1982, he defiantly asserted that; “There is no going back. We shall die thirty at a time, a hundred at a time, but there is no going back. We move forward until we win our victory, our freedom and the liberation of Africa.”

President O.R Tambo was also a Pan African. He believed in the unity of the people of Africa and cham Pioned their cause for liberation. He recognised the sacrifices made by Africans towards our liberation. He always reminded us that our freedom is, in part, a product of major sacrifices made by our brothers and sisters on the African continent and in the rest of the world. Equally, President O.R Tambo was a citizen of the world.

It was a tribute to O.R.’s capabilities as the chief diplomat of our liberation struggle that apartheid was declared a crime against humanity, and that the apartheid state was isolated. It was also through his hard work that the people of the world were united in support of the cause of our freedom. As we said earlier, he became the father of the global anti-apartheid movement.

O.R. Tambo was foremost amongst those who advocated for the rights of women within our movement. In doing this, he became part of those who championed the building of a non-sexist society. It was O.R who made a solemn pledged to the women of South Africa that; as the ANC we will not consider our struggle complete, or at the end; and that our mission will remain un-accomplished until women are fully emancipated. Under his, leadership O.R. sought to cement the role of women as active and equal participants in the struggle for liberation including in the armed struggle.

TIn a speech to the Women’s Section of the ANC, O.R Tambo challenged both men and women of the ANC when he said: “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.”

Accordingly, as ANC members and leaders, we must remember that the struggle for women’s emancipation is an integral part of the National Democratic Revolution. As we know, the strategic goal of the NDR includes the resolution of the triple oppression of women based on their race, their class and their gender.

Inspired by O.R Tambo’s passion for the rights of women, we must do everything necessary to eradicate from our society all forms of gender discrimination, femicide, as well as violence against women, children and young girls. Ours must be the generation that banishes this scourge.

To this end, we must accelerate efforts towards true and thorough-going economic emancipation of women and young girls. Drawing lessons from O.R Tambo, we must ensure that the ANC maintains its non-racial character and posture. As both the Freedom Charter and our Constitution direct; “South Africa belongs to all who live in it; Black and White.”

The leadership lessons we learn from O.R. Tambo are that leaders must be bold and fearless; they must be humble; they must remain truthful; they must be patient; they must work hard; they must listen; they must be prepared to be led and they must always place people first. We also learn from O.R the importance of ensuring that the ANC remains rooted in its historic values and that it continues to be the Parliament of the people of South Africa.

It is only a coherent and united ANC that can lead the national democratic revolution and ensure its success. This, Comrades is the essence of the programme of renewal that our movement has embarked upon. We need a renewed ANC, as an effective vehicle for our people, as we navigate the new terrain of a more complex and more difficult struggle.

Part of the renewal process must be to ensure that the ANC does not become an organisation of only its members and leaders but a trusted custodian of the aspirations of all the people of South Africa. As O.R. Tambo always warned us, whatever and however daunting our internal challenges may be, they can never be above those of the people. Even as the renewal process might prove to be difficult, we must not lose hope. We must stay the course!

Speaking of the difficult period in exile, OR Tambo said the following; “The fundamental question that we then had to resolve was how to transform our movement to meet the new situation in our country. As we faced difficulty, we did not tear ourselves apart because of the lack of progress at times. We were always ready to accept our mistakes and to correct them … we succeeded to foster and defend the unity of the ANC and the unity of our people in general.”

In particular, we must refuse to tear ourselves apart, even as we may differ fiercely. We must be ready to accept our mistakes and correct them. We must foster and defend the unity and cohesion of our movement and the unity of our people in general. Comrades, as we in this Ward are preparing ourselves to fight a by-election; let us invoke that age-old, potent rallying call of our movement that; Oliver Tambo bamb’isandla sam!

Let us surrender ourselves to the wisdom, the wise counsel and guidance of O.R., as we face the enemy in these by-elections. In honour of O.R Tambo, the ANC will continue to ensure that local government, as the sphere closest to the people, is transformed, capacitated and well-resourced to be a catalyst for local development.

Furthermore, we will continue to place the local government at the centre of efficient service delivery and the improvement of the lives of the people. To do all of this, we will strengthen the implementation of the District and Metro Development Model. This model will allow for better planning, coordination and most importantly effective execution of service delivery programmes. Ultimately, this model will lead to better and more efficient service delivery.

As the ANC we will ensure that local government is placed at the cutting edge in the fight against unemployment, poverty, underdevelopment, gender-based violence, as well as lack of access to skills development and entrepreneurial opportunities especially for young people, women and people with disability.

Our candidates at the local government level will act with humility; they will be hardworking; they will listen to the people; they will not be arrogant; they will remain in constant contact with the people; they always are available; they will never tire to engage even with those who disagree with us.

From here on, let us spread the message that; it is only an ANC led government, at all levels, that will ensure better and accelerated service delivery for all.

The ANC is a party of service delivery. We have a track record to prove this. We are a party of the people. We are a party for the residence of the City of Johannesburg, and of Ward 41. As the ANC we will always humble ourselves before our people. We will admit our mistakes, and we will correct them. We will act harshly against corruption and the misuse of public funds.

We will continue to build an ethical ANC that will lead an ethical, capable state at all levels of government while working hard to unite and strengthen the ANC as an effective vehicle for the total emancipation of the people of South Africa.