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Leaders vs. Pseudo-Leaders
I have had problems with Oliver Tambo, however that cannot cloud my judgement of him and his great leadership. Following the disastrous the 1967 Wankie Campaign of the Luthuli detachment in Zimbabwe and the incarceration of MK soldier is Botswana, Tambo was accused of being a poor leader and undemocratic. This was contained in the Chris Hani Memorandum.
With the memorandum calling Tambo undemocratic, he had no option as a leader but to step down as so he did what a proper leader would do and called a congress. The famous Morogoro conference in Tanzania in 1969, was the first conference to be held outside the country. Based on the Memorandum, Tambo tendered in his resignation and asked to step down from the leadership, after all he was not a real elected president of the ANC but a de facto president following the murder of Mvumbi Luthuli in 1967.
It was the 700 delegates of the ANC that recalled Tambo's resignation after he saw his own faults in his leadership style. They properly elected him to be a leader and a president and was elected unopposed despite the previous criticism from the MK.
Tambo changed a lot of things around and became more involved in the running of the ANC and MK operation including setting up the Revolutionary Council which would oversee the entire operations.
He admitted his faults and reconciled with Chris Hani and his troops, excluding the 'group of 8' who refused to reconcile.
Tambo learned from his mistakes, his faults and was a reconciling leader within a movement.
The point here is that many of our leaders would learn a lot from the likes of Tambo and Chris Hani (Who lost soldiers and arrested facing the gallows in Botswana). They had found a way to Burry the hatched in favour of the organisation and the struggle, they learned how to cooperate in unit and recreate a platform for improvement.
Many of the organisations we see today are a serious joke; its leaders are dictators without any reasoning capabilities or even a vision to see the damage their actions are causing. They would rather destroy an individual or individuals who differ with them than address the problem at hand. They will silence, assassinate the character or expelled the individuals than properly engage the matter they are raising.
Tambo showed leadership and called everyone together to end page the issues, he saw the faulty lines and established teams with the opposing forces within the organisation to address the organisational forces as well as his own.
What we see in COSATU, the ANC, COPE, EFF, are similar issues to what Tambo and the ANC of 1969 faced. However the leaders did not want that to impact on the country and its struggle but wanted to maintain the best leaders within the organisation rather than moving out.
The country is suffering not because of the external forces outside the country but because there is a vacuum of leaders who can take the country forward. The leadership are busy covering themselves so much that the issues of the country are left to be down their priority list. In this previous decade, we are yet to see the rise an astounding leader who can create the urge of the people to struggle for a better life.
Some of us are still waiting to see where will we find another Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, Bantu Biko and other formidable leaders? The last crop would seemingly have died with Mandela and buried with him. It shall be evident in the future where these kinds of leaders will actually take us and who are they actually leading. Until then we shall continue to cry as a country.
Bongani Mahlangu
Writing on my own behalf
I have had problems with Oliver Tambo, however that cannot cloud my judgement of him and his great leadership. Following the disastrous the 1967 Wankie Campaign of the Luthuli detachment in Zimbabwe and the incarceration of MK soldier is Botswana, Tambo was accused of being a poor leader and undemocratic. This was contained in the Chris Hani Memorandum.
With the memorandum calling Tambo undemocratic, he had no option as a leader but to step down as so he did what a proper leader would do and called a congress. The famous Morogoro conference in Tanzania in 1969, was the first conference to be held outside the country. Based on the Memorandum, Tambo tendered in his resignation and asked to step down from the leadership, after all he was not a real elected president of the ANC but a de facto president following the murder of Mvumbi Luthuli in 1967.
It was the 700 delegates of the ANC that recalled Tambo's resignation after he saw his own faults in his leadership style. They properly elected him to be a leader and a president and was elected unopposed despite the previous criticism from the MK.
Tambo changed a lot of things around and became more involved in the running of the ANC and MK operation including setting up the Revolutionary Council which would oversee the entire operations.
He admitted his faults and reconciled with Chris Hani and his troops, excluding the 'group of 8' who refused to reconcile.
Tambo learned from his mistakes, his faults and was a reconciling leader within a movement.
The point here is that many of our leaders would learn a lot from the likes of Tambo and Chris Hani (Who lost soldiers and arrested facing the gallows in Botswana). They had found a way to Burry the hatched in favour of the organisation and the struggle, they learned how to cooperate in unit and recreate a platform for improvement.
Many of the organisations we see today are a serious joke; its leaders are dictators without any reasoning capabilities or even a vision to see the damage their actions are causing. They would rather destroy an individual or individuals who differ with them than address the problem at hand. They will silence, assassinate the character or expelled the individuals than properly engage the matter they are raising.
Tambo showed leadership and called everyone together to end page the issues, he saw the faulty lines and established teams with the opposing forces within the organisation to address the organisational forces as well as his own.
What we see in COSATU, the ANC, COPE, EFF, are similar issues to what Tambo and the ANC of 1969 faced. However the leaders did not want that to impact on the country and its struggle but wanted to maintain the best leaders within the organisation rather than moving out.
The country is suffering not because of the external forces outside the country but because there is a vacuum of leaders who can take the country forward. The leadership are busy covering themselves so much that the issues of the country are left to be down their priority list. In this previous decade, we are yet to see the rise an astounding leader who can create the urge of the people to struggle for a better life.
Some of us are still waiting to see where will we find another Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, Bantu Biko and other formidable leaders? The last crop would seemingly have died with Mandela and buried with him. It shall be evident in the future where these kinds of leaders will actually take us and who are they actually leading. Until then we shall continue to cry as a country.
Bongani Mahlangu
Writing on my own behalf
