Oliver Tambo: the glue that holds us together

SOURCE: The fabric of dissent: public intellectuals in South Africa
OUTPUT TYPE: Chapter in Monograph
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2020
TITLE AUTHOR(S): G.Houston
SOURCE EDITOR(S): V.Reddy, N.Bohler-Muller, G.Houston, M.Schoeman, H.Thuynsma
KEYWORDS: AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC), INTELLIGENTSIA, POLITICS, RACIAL SEGREGATION, TAMBO, OLIVER
DEPARTMENT: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 11799
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/15870
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/15870

If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.

Abstract

Oliver Reginald 'O.R.' Kaizana Tambo was born in the village of Nkantolo in the Pondoland (eQawukeni) region of what is now the Eastern Cape. His father, Mzimeni Tambo, the son of a farmer, was an assistant salesperson in a local trading store, and had ten children from his four wives. Tambo's mother, Julia, was his third wife and a devout Christian. Originally a traditionalist, Mzimeni Tambo later converted to Christianity. Tambo was christened Kaizana at birth, getting his name from Germany Kaizer Wilhelm, whose army had fought against the British in World War I. His father gave him the name to show his opposition to the 1878 colonisation of Pondoland by the British. Tambo began his formal education at the age of seven at the Ludeke Methodist School in the Bizana district, and completed his primary school education at the Holy Cross Missionary School in Flagstaff. He then went to St Peter's College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, where he completed his schooling with a first-class pass and a number of distinctions. By this time, he was an extremely devout Christian, having been baptised three times already, first by evangelicals, then by Methodists and finally by Anglicans.

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