JONATHAN JANSEN: We need to talk about the spiritual life of Oliver Tambo
'His devout faith was the internal resource that expressed itself in great moral leadership that he demonstrated over the exacting years of exile'
He was baptised at least three times – by Evangelicals, Methodists and Anglicans. As a high school student he achieved that rare distinction of first class pass in mathematics in the years when blacks and whites still wrote a common examination. He would not see his wife for a year but when he did they would sit through the night talking and singing hymns for three hours on end. When he protested at university and the authorities threatened to expel him, he asked for time to pray and consult with his God. And when the Anglican Archbishop opened the casket to incense and bless the 75-year-old’s body, there lay the great man of God in full military regalia. The Arch was confused at first but then he saw those distinctive marks on his face that confirmed the identity of the deceased not only as Amapondo, his tribal origins, but as the man credited with holding together the ANC in exile.For the past several months I have been intrigued, perhaps even a little obsessed, by this remarkabl...
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