Oliver Tambo: Have You Heard From Johannesburg

Overview

In part two of this six part series Oliver Tambo is sent abroad to run the ANC after it is banned in South Africa in 1960. This episode traces Tambo's efforts to bring the injustice of apartheid to the world's attention. He insists that the apartheid regime can be brought to the negotiating table if the governments would sanction and isolate South Africa, which economically and culturally depends on its links to the western world. Major allies are found, most notably the nations of Africa, and the governments of Sweden, Norway and the Soviet Union. The ANC's efforts are boosted in South Africa by the Soweto uprising and the murder of Steve Biko. South Africa becomes more than a country; it is a cause, a worldwide emblem for injustice. A major victory is won: a United Nations mandatory arms embargo, the first in history. But no one will sanction South Africa economically and by the time the story ends a bloodbath seems inevitable