Oliver Tambo Meets with US Secretary of State George Shultz

Oliver Tambo Meets with US Secretary of State George Shultz

On 28 January 1987, Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress (ANC), met with the United States Secretary of State George P. Shultz in Washington D.C. to use American influence to press other Western countries to impose economic sanctions on South Africa, at least as strong as those enacted by Congress over President Reagan’s veto. Before the meeting, Tambo also mentioned that he had intended to press Secretary of State to support “a total break, diplomatic and everything” by the United States with apartheid South Africa. Emerging from a 50-minute meeting with Shultz, Tambo said he had also urged a broadening of the American sanctions.

Although George Shultz’s stated purpose was to explore the possibility of an American role as a broker in the South African conflict, State Department officials acknowledged that the meeting was largely symbolic and, in part, an effort to defuse criticism of United States policy by black African and American leaders. However, this “symbolism” narrative was not accurate, as the meeting marked the first time any Secretary of State had met with the ANC leader Oliver Tambo, whose organisation, which advocated for end to apartheid in South Africa, was banned by the racist Pretoria authorities. It also was an indication that the United States recognised the ANC as a central factor in the South African struggle and was willing to engage in discussions with the organisation.

ANC President Oliver Tambo, on the one hand, was accompanied by a delegation of four ANC leaders, including Johnny Makhathini, Thabo Mbeki, Barbara Masekela and Neo Mnumzana. On the other, Secretary of State Shultz’s delegation consisted of eight officials, which included Chester Crocker and his deputy Chas Freeman, a representative of the National Security Council, the State Department spokesperson, Charles Redman, the United States’ Ambassador to Zambia, Paul Hare, and four other state representatives.

During the meeting, Shultz said the US administration was against apartheid and that the sooner that system was gone, the better. “However, they were against all violence from whichever side it came. They wished to see an open, democratic state with equal opportunities for all to participate in government and in the economy of the country. This should come about through negotiations.” While the US administration had its own ideas, it did not wish to prescribe solutions. This was a task for South Africans. To that end the Pretoria regime had to release the political prisoners, unban political parties and involve everybody in negotiations.

According to Shultz, the US administration had been talking to other South Africans as it was at that moment talking to the ANC to convey its views about the need for negotiations. The US administration recognised the ANC as an important player in South African politics. What was most interesting during the discussions was that Shultz said that he had read the ANC’s January 8th Statement with interest and noted what it said about a non-racial democracy. For Shultz, the South African economy was supposed to benefit the region of Southern Africa as a whole. He stated that he was glad to see the ANC President and welcomed the opportunity to meet him with the primary purpose of listening to him.

George Shultz held the meeting amid criticism from conservatives, who condemned the ANC as a “pro-Soviet terrorist” organisation. An organisation calling itself a “Coalition Against ANC Terrorism”, called on Americans to “act now to cancel the Tambo visit … don’t let your appointees turn over South Africa to the Soviet Union”. The Secretary addressed these two issues at the outset of the discussions, according to the State Department spokesman, Charles E. Redman. He said that Shultz had “laid out our concerns about the degree of Soviet influence in the ANC” and the group’s use of violence. Shultz, who had visited six African nations a week before the meeting, said contact with the ANC was important, as it was the largest black opposition group in the struggle against South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation.

Oliver Tambo, on the other hand, called it “a very serious and substantive meeting”, and Redman used the same characterisation. “We found there was a large area of agreement on the nature of the apartheid system, on the need to abolish it, and we are considering together the ways of achieving this”, Tambo said. He criticised the US Administration’s “constructive engagement” policy, under which Washington had sought to exert quiet pressure on South Africa, as “unhelpful” in combating apartheid.

Oliver Tambo had been a guest of the African American Institute, in New York, where he met with the Council of Foreign Relations, with several politicians and businessmen, including David Rockefeller. He also met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), other Congress members and leaders of church and labour organisations. In Zambia, he talked with South African business leaders, including the chairperson of the biggest company, Anglo American. In December 1986, while he was London, he lunched with representatives of most of the biggest British companies, including the chairpersons of the two leading banks in South Africa, and expressed a very open mind about the economic future.

In an unusual show of force, dozens of uniformed policemen were stationed in and around the diplomatic entrance to the State Department, and the adjoining street was closed to traffic along the full length of the building. Secretary Shultz’s decision to meet with Oliver Tambo drew strong criticism from the Conservative Caucus, which condemned the ANC for both its use of violence and its ties to the Soviet Union. Senator Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas, said that he feared that the session would be seen as “showing approval for terrorism”. Outside the State Department, a knot of conservative protesters shouted, “Tambo, go home!” and “The ANC means the KGB!”

Progressive voices in the United States rebuked the governments in both Washington and London, who were at last moving toward official talks with the ANC. They condemned the West for complaining, after having long neglected the ANC. According to these voices, that the congress had links with the Eastern European countries, including the Soviet Union, was “not only politically naive, it gets in the way of a historic opportunity, perhaps the last chance of establishing a constructive relationship with a future democratic black government, before it is too late”.

Charles Redman emphasised the Secretary of State’s desire “to work with all of the parties, to bring them together so they can start talking”. The South African authorities had refused to negotiate with the ANC. The session with Secretary Shultz came at a time when relations between Washington and Pretoria were at a low point and American influence with the apartheid South African government appeared to be practically non-existent. Michael Armacost, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, met with top leaders of the ANC on 21 December 1986, which the United States regarded as “the main guerrilla force seeking to overthrow the white-minority government in Pretoria”.

During his visit to Washington, Oliver Tambo had endorsed the use of violence in the struggle against apartheid. “Apartheid is inherently a practice of violence”, he said in a speech at Georgetown University on the same day of the meeting with the Secretary of State. “We choose not to submit but to fight back, arms in hand. We have no alternative but to intensify our armed resistance because, as your Declaration of Independence says, in the face of systematic tyranny, it becomes a duty and a right to take up arms.” He told reporters that the ANC was indebted to the Soviet Union for providing arms, but he stressed that non-military assistance had also come from Norway, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and other Western countries.

For Oliver Tambo, the time had come for the United States to review its policy towards southern Africa, as it had the potential to make an important contribution towards resolving some of the challenges affecting the region. In essence, Tambo correctly believed that “these problems should not be viewed through the distorting prism of the East-West conflict”. As a suggestion, Tambo asked “why does not the United States meet the Soviet Union and discuss together how they could cooperate to help bring about a new system?” Secretary of State Schultz shockingly accepted the proposition and told Tambo that at the next United States meeting with the Soviet Union, which was forthcoming, he would raise the issue there.

In his speech at Georgetown University, Tambo extended gratitude to “the American people as a whole for moving Congress not only to pass sanctions against apartheid South Africa but also to override President Reagan’s veto”. He emphasised the possibility for United States to move “to save hundreds of thousands more lives by acting to help bring about the dismantling of apartheid and the establishment of a non-racial and democratic society in South Africa”, just as it did when it provided aid that helped to save millions of lives during the great drought in Africa.

The meeting between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Oliver Tambo, head of the African National Congress, marked an important if belated move by the United States to support the kind of solution that made sense for South Africa. The ANC without question was the single most influential political force among the black majority of South Africans, and the efforts of the government of South Africa to outlaw and isolate it, had only made it more important. Every significant element of the black community, conservative and liberal alike, has insisted that negotiations had to include Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned ANC leader.

At the conclusion of his engagements, Tambo declared that “We, for our part, are ready to deal with the United States government honestly and openly for the sake of the cause of justice in our country and peace in southern Africa… We shall live up to that responsibility and expand the frontiers of democracy to our country as well. To carry out this task, which faces all humankind, we count on your support. We’re certain you’ll not fail us!’

Sources:
Wikipedia.
South African History Online (SAHO).
Anthony Sampson, “Deal with the African National Congress? Yes: Blacks May Run South Africa”, The New York Times, 25 July 1986.
William Claiborne, “Shultz, ANC Chief to Meet: Session Would Mark New Recognition for S. African Foe”, The Washington Post, 20 December 1986.
Robert Doherty, “Conservatives Urge Shultz to Cancel Meeting with ANC Leader”, United Press International, 20 January 1987.
David B. Ottaway, “ANC Leader to Press Shultz on Ending Ties to S Africa”, The Washington Post, 25 January 1987.
African National Congress, “Report of Meeting Between President of the ANC, Oliver Tambo, and the U.S. Secretary of State, George Schultz: State Department”, 28 January 1987.
Chicago Tribune, “S African Rebel Talks with Shultz”, Chicago Tribune, 29 January 1987.
Gary Thatcher, “Tambo Says Shultz Meeting Proves ANC Must Be Reckoned With. But Critics Say Meeting Sends Wrong Message on Terrorism”, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 January 1987.
Michael Getler and William Claiborne, “Tambo-Shultz Meeting Hurt ANC, Says Pretoria” The Washington Post, 29 January 1987.
L.A. Times Archives, “Message for South Africa”, Los Angeles Times, 30 January 1987.
Gwen McKinney, “Tambo Gets Enthusiastic Greeting On Visit Here”, The Washington Informer, Vol. 23, Iss. 16, 04 February 1987.
I.D.A.F. News Notes “Southern Africa News Calendar”, United States Committee of the International Defense and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, Issue No. 30, February 1987.
Analysis, “Diplomacy: An Agreement to Disagree”, TIME Magazine, 9 February 1987.
Thula Simpson, “Umkhonto we Sizwe: The ANC’s Armed Struggle”, Penguin, 2016.

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