Oliver Tambo: the glue that holds us together

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.