Oliver Tambo was a South African politician who fought against the apartheid regime , and a main member of the African National Congress (ANC), he was a friend of the political leader Nelson Mandela .
Summary
[ hide ]
- 1 Beginnings in politics
- 1 CNA
- 2 About Mandela
- 1 Treason
- 3 Zambia
- 4 Sources
Beginnings in politics
Oliver studied at the University of Fort Hare from where he was expelled along with Mandela and other colleagues for having participated in a student strike. In 1942 he returned to his old school in Johannesburg to teach science and mathematics. Along with Mandela, he joined a group of political activists who founded the Young League of the African National Congress in 1944.
CNA
In 1955 Tambo became Secretary General of the ANC after Walter Sisulu was excluded by the South African government under the Suppression of Communism Act. In 1958 he was Second President of the African National Council and in 1959 the government gave him a five-year ban. In 1948, together with Mandela, he founded the first law firm which was run by blacks from South Africa. Together with his friends Mandela and Walter Sisulo , who was also an activist of said organization, he was a founding member of the Youth League of Congress, was its National Secretary and later became a member of the National Executive in 1948
About Mandela
Oliver was fond of Mandela whom he said was “a fiery, emotional, sensitive man, easily incited to resentment and revenge in the face of insult and arbitrariness”
Treason
Oliver was charged and arrested for treason in 1956, although he was released a year later. He became general secretary when he was president in 1955 and vice president of Albert John Luthuli in 1958.
Zambia
In 1960 the government declared the ANC illegal, and it is when he moved to Zambia , where he held the position of the ANC presidency after the death of Luthuli in 1967. For health reasons they forced him to resign from his position in 1991, leaving Mandela who in 1990, after more than twenty-seven years in prison, he stood as a recognized leader of the ACN.