The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
Mwape Mulubwa
27 October 2009
column
FIRST Republican president Kenneth Kaunda's administration must have been overjoyed to see the Union Jack of the former colonial master, Britain, being brought down and replaced by the flag of the new independent State -Zambia.
But this new Government did not stop at that.
Dr Kaunda's first Government also had it in mind even as the Union Jack was being brought down at midnight of the Independence Day 45 years ago to ensure and support the liberation struggle of neighbouring countries of Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and even South Africa.
In an interview with journalists at his Kabulonga House recently, Dr Kaunda said that following the Biblical command of loving your fellow man as you love yourself, his Government ensured the support and enhancement of the independence in the sub-region.
"We allowed our comrades to pass through (weapons and other freedom struggle logistics) to ensure their independence," he said.
The First Republican president said that Zambia supported a number of freedom struggle groupings such as the " umkhonto We Sizwe," a military branch of the African National Congress (ANC).
In 1965 Tanzania and Zambia gave the ANC camp facilities to house trained Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) combatants. Among these combatants was Oliver Reginald Tambo, otherwise known as O.R Tambo.
But who is and who was O.R Tambo?
Born five years after the birth of the ANC, Oliver Reginald Tambo spent most of his life serving in the struggle against apartheid.
'O.T', as he was popularly known by his peers, was born on October 27, 1917 in a rural town, Mbizana, in eastern Mpondoland in what was then the Cape Province (now Eastern Cape).
His parents had converted to Christianity shortly before he was born.
Earlier on in the 1950s, black South Africans grappled with apartheid, a system that disregarded their rights in nearly all areas of their existence. Many of them fought the system within and outside to liberate their country.
Tambo's name is one that stands out among the many freedom fighters in South Africa not only for his actions but also for his nurturing style and respect for all people irrespective of their colour , creed or race.
He stood out against apartheid and thus, his name is renowned not only in South Africa but world wide.
His achievements remain imposing and evident in South Africa and beyond.
And this includes the renaming of some public institutions, which include the once called Jan Smuts international Airport to Oliver Tambo International Airport, among others.
Tambo began his political career in 1952 when he joined the political stage through a political defiance campaign. He was involved in the Freedom Charter, the treason trial of 1958 and the Sharpeville crisis of 1960.
As a result of this, ANC was banned in 1960 and its president , Chief Albert Lithuli chose O.R to lead ANC in exile.
In the same year, Tambo escaped to London and later sought refuge in Tanzania.
While in Tanzania, Tambo found himself with the responsibility of leading a banished ANC, which was now committed to military action.
The organisation, thus, needed urgent international assistance to help liberate South Africa against apartheid. It was at this point that Tambo sought friendly allies.
Zambia having attained her independence in 1964, was his first calling. And the new nation founded on the biblical foundation of love, did offer a helping hand.
Dr Kaunda said Tambo was a learned nationalist who decided to fight the apartheid regime with force, of course with the help of friendly countries such as Zambia.
"The first time I met Oliver Tambo was an experience. As a qualified lawyer, he decided to fight for his country. Out of love for our neighbour, we had a duty to help liberate our neighbours," he said.
The Zambian Government under the leadership of Dr Kaunda provided shelter for Oliver Tambo in Lusaka's Chelston residential area and for ' his men' in Kabwata and Libala, respectively.
The Zambian Government also provided camp facilities in Nampundwe and other areas for training of the " Umkhonto We Sizwe."
Tambo further looked eastward for assistance for communist influences and friends. It was through these events that Tambo's growing popularity angered the Boer government in Pretoria, South Africa.
It was then that the white dominated government planned an attack on his residence in Chelston.
But alert intelligence saved Tambo's life before he was whisked into State House where he was accommodated.
This further vexed the South African government resulting in Zambia being attacked and thus many innocent lives being lost, in the process.
One of the historic sites of these bombings is the Chambeshi Railway Bridge in Mpika District of Northern Province.
Oliver Tambo Municipality Executive Director Mbuso Ncube says the late freedom fighter became internationally known due to his skills and ability, organising and mobilising resources for the MK especially.
"He was honest and hard working man loved by young people including Jacob Zuma (now president of South Africa) whom he stayed with here in Zambia," said Ncube.
He told journalists in an interview in Lusaka, that late Tambo cared about all South Africans both within and outside the rainbow nation leading to its freedom.
Ncube was in Zambia heading a 300 member, high-powered delegation of municipal councils' officials, selected parliamentarians, theatre groups and footballers for the country's 45th anniversary.
He says the purpose of the visit to Zambia was to help educate and enlighten South Africans on the role Zambia helped liberate their country as well as help reduce hostility to foreigners in their country following the Xenophobic attacks in their country.
South Africa High Commissioner to Zambia, Moses Chikane said the late Tambo took over the mantle of ANC leadership's liberation struggle when Nelson Mandela and others were incarcerated.
Mr Chikane said Tambo traveled in most capitals of the world, such as Lusaka to not only mobilise resources for the MK but South African nationals who were staying in respective countries to fight against apartheid.
The late freedom fighter, according to the envoy, made policies for ANC and defined the character of Africa's oldest liberation movement.
Tambo was also not only a torch bearer of ANC's campaign against apartheid in friendly nations like Zambia, but also ensured that he provided, with the help of host countries, formal education opportunities for the many South African refugee freedom fighters.
Veteran Zambian politician Chibesa Kankansa agrees to this, saying the late freedom fighter helped in a number of projects for the benefit of South Africans exiled in Zambia.
She cited one institution, Dora Tamane School where exiled South African children and adults were educated.
The retired leader and freedom fighter in first Republican president Kaunda's government described the late Tambo as very "sober and determined man" who had a sole goal of his country's liberation.
"This is why Oliver Tambo and group (the ANC's Mukonto we Sizwe) spearheaded the freedom struggle from other countries in the region," she said.
All in all Tambo has been described as the glue that held ANC together. He is remembered as a patient listener with razor sharp intellect who employed the traditional African methods of consensus to negotiate and reach decisions.
He was a modest yet relentless lobbyist who brought the plight of black South Africans under apartheid to world attention.
Tambo was a struggle icon, who was determined to fight odds and end apartheid. This ability to stand up to apartheid is a legacy bequeathed to all freedom and justice lovers.
This is why Zambia as one of African countries which cherish freedom and justice, saw it fit to twin O.R Tambo's birthday and that of Zambia's independence as epic moments of the birth of freedom.
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