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President Jacob Zuma hosts commemoration of the Centenary of OR Tambo in United Nations, New York

275 views · Published 22 September 2017 · 4:34 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: GovernmentZA · 2017 · News & Politics

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It is my honour to welcome you to this event today, as we commemorate the centenary anniversary of an illustrious son of South Africa and icon of our country’s liberation, Oliver Reginald Tambo, affectionately known as “O.R.”
 
In honour of President O.R, who was born one hundred years ago, South Africa declared 2017, “the Year of O.R. Tambo”. This is in honour of a man who dedicated his life to the liberation, freedom and equal opportunity of all South Africans.
 
It is appropriate that we are holding this celebration here at the Headquarters of the United Nations, because a significant part of O.R.’s contribution to our democratic, non-racial, free South Africa, was through his mobilisation of international solidarity against apartheid.
 
Comrade O.R.’s exemplary leadership as an international statesman and consummate diplomat, shaped the vision of a post-apartheid democratic South Africa and the country’s foreign policy, and the principles on which it is grounded. These are Patriotism, Loyalty, Dedication, Ubuntu, Equity, Integrity, and Batho Pele meaning putting people first.
 
President Tambo served as president of our liberation Movement, the African National Congress (ANC), from 1967 to 1991. He is recognised, amongst many achievements, for having held the many facets of the ANC together, as many of its members were scattered across the world in exile.
 
Comrade O.R. united the ANC by listening to, and engaging with, the concerns of comrades, and by staying true to the core values of the ANC, displaying great integrity and discipline, in serving the organisation, and the interests of South Africa.
 
Following the Sharpeville Massacre, on 21 March 1960, Comrade O.R. embarked on a “Mission in Exile” in order to gain international support for the South African liberation movement.  He mobilised international solidarity against apartheid and contributed to shaping the vision of a post-apartheid democratic South Africa. 

Read more: https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-jacob-zuma-toast-remarks-during-commemoration-centenary-o-r-tambo-united-nation

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