ANC Today -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 8, No. 16, 25 April-1 May 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK: * Freedom Day 2008: Fight for freedom from want, exploitation and fear * Remember Oliver Tambo: A dream that gave hope to the despised -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FREEDOM DAY 2008 As South Africans mark the 14th anniversary of the country's first democratic elections this weekend, the focus needs to turn to an all-round intensification of the effort to eradicate poverty, create employment and improve the quality of life of all. It is a moment to celebrate our shared achievements. But it's also an opportunity to reflect on what still needs to be done to ensure freedom from want, exploitation and fear. On this special day, which recalls a milestone in the long struggle by freedom- loving patriots of South Africa to win back their birthright, the African National Congress (ANC) invites all South Africans to join in the celebration of Freedom Day. This is a day of profound significance for the liberation movement and all South African democrats who cherish the ideals of freedom and equality, without regard to race, colour, creed, gender, class, religion or language. On 27 April 1994, South Africa achieved an historic breakthrough in the struggle to liberate our country from the shackles of colonialism, apartheid-based racism and other forms of exclusion. For the first time, South Africans achieved what is universally recognised by societies throughout the world as an inalienable human right - namely, the democratic right to exercise their free choice of party, public representatives and government. In the 96 years of its existence, the ANC has been the leading political movement in the struggle against national oppression. The ANC conducted this using different strategies and tactics including the mobilisation of mass resistance, garnering the support of the international community, and fighting an armed struggle, to dismantle the apartheid machine. Many of our people lost their lives - and many others were prepared to make countless other sacrifices - to ensure that today we can celebrate Freedom Day. South Africa owes those comrades a debt of gratitude for their selfless commitment and determination. Let us immortalise their honourable vision by using this special day as an occasion for national reflection and rededication to carry through our historic task of reconstruction and development. Let us ensure that never again in this beautiful land of ours will the democratic rights of so many be trampled on in the pursuit of the narrow interests of so few. A new era The elections of 27 April 1994 ushered in an era in which the ANC-led government of national unity was able to implement its vision of a united, non-racial, non- sexist and democratic society. Then, as now, its ultimate goal is to uplift the quality of life of all South Africans, especially the poor. The ANC-led government's track record in this regard is impressive. Its commitment to translate the concept of socio-economic rights for the marginalised into reality can be seen in many achievement. Democracy has brought many changes in every sphere of the community and society. We have seen important advances towards the emancipation of women, with women increasingly taking their rightful place in parliament, legislatures, municipalities, government and other public institutions. There has been some progress within the private sector, but this has been far slower. A number of laws have been introduced to improve the status and enforce the rights of women. The task we must undertake today is to ensure that those laws are translated into practice. Progress has been made in the fight against poverty. This has taken place through direct interventions by government, such as the deracialisation of social grants and a massive increase in the uptake of these grants by the poor and vulnerable. The ANC government has committed itself to spending an additional R12.5 billion for social grants over the next three years. In line with the resolutions of Polokwane, the child support grant has been extended to cater for children up to the ages of 15 years. Houses have been provided to poor people on a scale never seen before. The pace have delivery has increased significantly in recent years. This has taken place alongside the delivery of basic services like water, sanitation and electricity to millions of people who have never had them before. Over the next three years the ANC government has budgeted for provinces to spend over R18 billion on school infrastructure and equipment, to eradicate unsafe schools and improve the quality of the learning environment. We have seen major progress in the transformation of judiciary in line with the constitution of the country. The development of joint programmes by safety and security, justice, and correctional services have all had a marked improvement on levels of certain categories of crime. These have been complemented by the introduction of the National Crime Combating Strategy (NCCS), rehabilitation centres to prevent overcrowding in prisons, and the contributions from the business sector and communities through Community Policing Forums (CPFs). The struggle continues Even with these achievements much more needs to be done. There are still many South Africans who still have not experienced the material benefits of freedom. The struggle will continue until the promise of dignity and freedom from poverty, malnutrition and disease has been realised all South Africans. As a nation we are faced with numerous challenges that relate to education, health, crime, and energy. The energy problems have led to load shedding throughout the country. To address this problem the ANC government has embarked on a power conservation programme. In support, the ANC has initiated its own energy efficient campaign to encourage people to conserve electricity. The ANC will work closely with its alliance partners, civil society, labour and business in this campaign. The ANC is concerned about Eskom's proposal to massively increase electricity prices. In particular, we are concerned about the impact a price rise would have on workers and the poor. We have agreed to set up a task team to prepare for an energy summit to resolve these issues. Crime also remains a serious challenge to all South Africans. As the ANC, our branches must continue the drive to establish street committees. The Alliance must continue to be strong and more committed in providing a better life for all South Africans. The Alliance must build the broad front for reconstruction and development, through engagement with community based organisations (CBOs), NGOs, and sectoral formations, around the programme of reconstruction and development and a united front to push back the frontiers of poverty. The Alliance must continue to be actively involved in all ANC national campaigns. Ensuring that our people enjoy the fruits of freedom does not solely rest with the ANC and government. It calls for a spirit of commitment and patriotism from all South Africans. The ANC encourages people to act as their own liberators, to play a part in promoting freedom for all South Africans. It is therefore essential that South Africans continue to embrace the spirit of volunteerism, a value that promotes service to the nation and communities to bring about a better life for all. If we are to successfully advance our vision of a national democratic society, we must pay particular attention to the unity and cohesion of the movement. The unity of the ANC is paramount. All members of the ANC should serve it to the best of their ability. We have entered a period of the renewal of the values, character and practices of the ANC. This task must be taken up by all leaders, cadres and members. On this Freedom Day the African National Congress calls on all South African to embrace the principles of freedom and play an active role in pushing back the frontiers of poverty. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REMEMBER OLIVER TAMBO A dream that gave hope to the despised During the month of April, the ANC has remembered the contributions of some of its most outstanding leaders. This week, we remember Oliver Reginald Tambo, who led the organisation for close on three decades and who passed away 15 years ago. He was, in the words of his close comrade, colleague and friend, Nelson Mandela, "a great giant who strode the globe like a colossus". His life and contribution serves as inspiration to us today as we grapple with the challenge of building a free and democratic society that truly belongs to all who live in it. Oliver Tambo died almost exactly a year before the dawn of freedom. Yet he did more than most to bring about that historic event. As we celebrate our freedom this weekend, we should dedicate ourselves to serve the nation as he taught us - selflessly, ceaselessly and with humility. Speaking at Tambo's funeral, held just a fortnight after the nation had laid Chris Hani to rest, Mandela said: "A great giant who strode the globe like a colossus has fallen. A mind whose thoughts have opened the doors to our liberty has ceased to function. A heart whose dreams gave hope to the despised has for ever lost its beat. The gentle voice whose measured words of reason shook the thrones of tyrants has been silenced. "We say he has departed. But can we allow him to depart while we live! Can we say Oliver Tambo is no more, while we walk this solid earth! Oliver lived not because he could breathe. He lived not because blood flowed through his veins. Oliver lived not because he did all the things that all of us as ordinary men and women do. "Oliver lived because he had surrendered his very being to the people. He lived because his very being embodied love, an idea, a hope, an aspiration, a vision." We remain engaged with this vision, driven by this idea, and fuelled by this hope. A life of service Born five years after ANC, Oliver Tambo spent most of his life serving in the struggle against apartheid. 'OR', as he was popularly known by his peers, was born on 27 October 1917 in Mbizana in eastern Mpondoland in what was then the Cape Province. His parents had converted to Christianity shortly before he was born. At the age of seven he began his formal education at the Ludeke Methodist School in the Mbizana district and completed his primary education at the Holy Cross Mission. He then transferred to Johannesburg to attend St Peters College, in Rossettenville, where he completed his high school education. From St Peters, Tambo went to study at the University College of Fort Hare, near Alice, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1941. It was at Fort Hare that he first became involved in the politics of the national liberation movement. He led a student class boycott in support of a demand to form a democratically elected Student's Representative Council. As a consequence he was expelled from Fort Hare and was thus unable to complete his Bachelor of Science honours degree. In 1942, he returned to St Peters College as a science and mathematics teacher. He was among the founding members of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) in 1944 and became its first National Secretary. He was elected President of the Transvaal ANCYL in 1948 and national vice-president in 1949. In the youth league, Tambo teamed up with Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Ashby Mda, Anton Lembede, William Nkomo, CM Majombozi and others to bring a bold, new spirit of militancy into the post-war ANC. In 1946 Tambo was elected onto the Transvaal Executive of the ANC. In 1948 he, together with Walter Sisulu, was elected onto the National Executive Committee. Tambo left teaching soon after the adoption by the ANC of the Programme of Action and set up a legal partnership with Nelson Mandela. The firm soon became known as a champion of the poor, victims of apartheid laws with little or no money to pay their legal costs. During the Campaign of Defiance of Unjust Laws of 1952, Oliver Tambo was among the numerous volunteers who courted imprisonment by deliberately breaking apartheid laws. The apartheid government's attempts to suppress the Defiance Campaign resulted in one of the first mass trials in South African legal history. Though he himself was not among the accused, Tambo was close to the trial. It resulted in the designation of Sisulu and others found guilty of organising the Defiance Campaign as statutory "Communists". One result was that in 1955 ANC Secretary General Walter Sisulu was banned in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act and ordered to resign his post as Secretary General. Oliver Tambo was appointed to fill the post, pending ratification by the annual conference. Hounded by banning orders and other restrictions, many of Tambo's peers were unable to attend the Congress of the People in June 1955. Tambo was not only on the platform but also served on the National Action Council that headed the mobilisation for the COP. It was because of this role that Tambo found himself among the 156 accused in the marathon Treason Trial in 1956. In 1958, Oliver Tambo left the post of Secretary General to become the Deputy President of the ANC. The following year, 1959, he, like many of his colleagues, was served with five year banning order. After the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, Tambo was designated by the ANC to travel abroad to set up the ANC's international mission and mobilise international opinion in opposition to the apartheid system. The international struggle Working in conjunction with Dr Yusuf Dadoo he was instrumental in the establishment of the South African United Front, which brought together the external missions of the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the SA Indian Congress and the South West African National Union (SWANU). As a result of a very successful lobbying campaign the South African United Front was able to secure the expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth in 1961. After this initial success the SAUF broke up in July 1961. Assisted by African governments, Tambo was able to establish ANC missions in Egypt, Ghana, Morocco and in London. From these small beginnings, under his stewardship the ANC acquired missions in 27 countries by 1990. These include all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, with the exception of China, two missions in Asia and one in Australasia. The suppression of the 1961 stay-at-home strike led to the ANC adopting the armed struggle as part of its strategy. Tambo was again an important factor in securing the cooperation of numerous African governments in providing training and camp facilities for the ANC. In 1965 Tanzania and Zambia gave the ANC camp facilities to house trained Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) combatants. In 1967, after the death of ANC President General Chief Albert Luthuli, Tambo became Acting president until his appointment to the Presidency was approved by the Morogoro Conference in 1969. During the 1970s Oliver Tambo's international prestige rose immensely as he traversed the world, addressing the United Nations and other international gatherings on the issue of apartheid. He became the key figure in the ANC's Revolutionary Council (RC) which had been set up at the Morogoro Conference to oversee the reconstruction of the ANC's internal machinery and to improve its underground capacity. In 1985 Tambo was re-elected ANC President at the Kabwe Conference. In that capacity he served also as the Head of the Politico-Military Council (PMC) of the ANC, and as Commander in Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe. Among black South African leaders, Oliver Tambo was probably the most highly respected on the African continent, in Europe, Asia and the Americas. During his stewardship of the ANC he raised its international prestige and status to that of an alternative to the Pretoria Government. He was received with the protocol reserved for Heads of State in many parts of the world. During his years in the ANC, Oliver Tambo played a major role in the growth and development of the movement and its policies. He was among the generation of African nationalist leaders who emerged after the Second World War who were instrumental in the transformation of the ANC from a liberal-constitutionalist organisation into a radical national liberation movement. In 1989 Oliver Tambo suffered a stroke, and underwent extensive medical treatment. He returned to South Africa in 1991, after over three decades in exile. At the ANC's first legal national conference inside South Africa, held in Durban in July 1991, Tambo was elected ANC National Chairperson. He was also chairperson of the ANC's Emancipation Commission. Oliver Tambo died from a stroke at 24 April 1993. His memory lives on in the daily struggles by millions of South Africans to forge a new nation, building on the foundation that he and his contemporaries laid, inspired by the vision to which he dedicated his entire life. ** Click here for ANC Today survey http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/survey08.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of ANC Today is available from the ANC web site at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2008/at16.htm To receive ANC Today free of charge by e-mail each week go to: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/subscribe.html To unsubscribe yourself from the ANC Today mailing list go to: http://lists.anc.org.za/mailman/listinfo/anctoday