Oliver Tambo: Apartheid – A Threat to Africa’s Survival

Oliver Tambo: Apartheid – A Threat to Africa’s Survival

(Extracts of a Speech by Oliver Tambo, Acting President of the African National Congress of South Africa, to a meeting held under the auspices of the Nigerian National Committee on Apartheid, 18 March 1971)

“The strategic objective of the South African racists with regard to the African continent is both short-term and long-term. It is to create client states among the independent African countries, with the aim of cutting off the South African national liberation movement from all sources of assistance; to compel such client states actively to participate in campaigns aimed at our destruction and the destruction of the faith of our oppressed and revolutionary people in the inevitability of liberation; and to ensure the preservation of apartheid by destroying the African National Congress (ANC), the decisive force on the whose shoulders falls the task of liberating the African people of South Africa.”

“The strategy of creating client states is further aimed at cutting short Africa’s strivings to establish for herself an independent and equal position in the world’s economy and the international political system; at using these client states against other African states; and, ultimately, at maintaining Africa as South Africa’s exclusive political and economic preserve. In this connection, special attention should be made of the attempt of the South African regime to establish a so-called ‘Southern African Common Market’.”

“White South Africa uses many and diverse means in the attempt to fulfil her objectives. To begin with, South Africa is economically the most powerful country in Africa. On the other hand, the peoples of Africa, especially in the sub-Saharan part, on the basis of continental comparisons, have the lowest standard of living in the world. The South African racists seek to exploit this situation to their advantage.”

“If the South African racist regime appears to have embarked on an offensive against independent Africa, its operations against the liberation movement in South Africa are intensive, and the persecution and torture of activists is ceaseless. And yet it is in South Africa that the struggle against the regime must be fought and won. The dominant role must of necessity be played by the black masses; and they are responding to their responsibilities.”

“With regard to the rest of Africa, it would seem that the best form of defence against racist South Africa’s onslaught is to go on the offensive on a wide range of counteractions. In particular, countries committed to the defeat of white minority regimes should establish embassies in the independent African States bordering on their territories and give full diplomatic, economic and material assistance to these States which will be the first victims of apartheid violence when the tide of revolution hits the shores of racism.”

“In this connection it seems inevitable that Africa should begin now to build her military power as an essential part of her development programmes. The idea of an African High Command may be difficult of attainment. But a beginning must be made and is being made. In the meantime, Africa’s youth in each country should be prepared for service in the national armed forces of each State, which must be built to maximum strength.”

“Finally, apartheid is a threat to Africa’s survival because, inter alia, it feeds on and is sustained by the nature of South Africa’s relations with powerful Western countries. Africa should redefine her relations with these and other countries on the basis of their stand and their policies on issues central to the cause and destiny of Africa. Racism ranks high in the list of such issues.”

– Oliver Tambo (18 March 1971)

Source:
Oliver Tambo, “Apartheid – A Threat to Africa’s Survival”, Sechaba, Vol. 5, No. 9, September 1971, pp. 2 – 6.

Castro Khwela
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