How OR Tambo Airport came to be named

HOW was it possible that we had an airport situated in the borders of Ekurhuleni being named Johannesburg International Airport?

This was the question posed by former Ekurhuleni mayor Duma Nkosi yesterday, as he recounted how he influenced the renaming of the formerJan Smuts, later Johannesburg International Airport to OR Tambo International Airport.

“Councillors in Ekurhuleni from all political parties had a problem with the name,” he said, while paying tribute to former ANC president Oliver Reginald Tambo during the celebration at Wits University of his centenary.

Nkosi is the deputy chairman of the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation. He was speaking on the sidelines of the celebration at Wits Great Hall last night. Former President Thabo Mbeki delivered the eulogy in memory of Tambo.

Nkosi remembered his early days as mayor of Ekurhuleni when he was deployed by Mbeki in November 2001.

He had been a Member of Parliament prior to his deployment to the City of Ekurhuleni.

“While still mayor, councillors from all political parties in the council had a problem with our airport, which is in Ekurhuleni, being called Johannesburg Inter national Airport. They really had a problem with that name.

“We all agreed the name must change. I then undertook to make it possible. I proposed the name of OR Tambo. The opposition parties initially had a problem. I had to convince them that we needed someone with the profile of OR Tambo and that he travelled across the world and did excellent work. They agreed.

“I then approached comrade Pallo Jordaan who was the minister of arts and culture and Comrade Dullah Omar who was the minister of transport then. They agreed to rename the airport to OR Tambo,” Nkosi said.

He said the Tambo family, particularly his wife Adelaide, agreed to his proposal and during his tenure as mayor, Nkosi was present in 2006 when Nelson Mandela officiated at the renaming of the airport after his predecessor in the ANC.

In 2010, the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation was established to continue the legacy of the two ANC giants and Nkosi said more and more people were getting “enlightened about the legacy of OR Tambo”.

He said the Tambo legacy was spreading, similar to the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Nkosi remembered that during the Soccer World Cup which South Africa was hosting for the first time, people geared themselves up for the events.

“People started to learn how to sing the national anthem, blow the vuvuzelas. This is how people are now accepting the legacy of OR Tambo. There is growing interest from people to know about Tambo,” Nkosi said.

He had never known Tambo in person until the ANC was unbanned in 1990, but he was in possession of old cassettes of OR Tambo’s January 8 (the date the ANC was founded in 1912) statements he had made since 1977.

He got them while finishing high school in Swaziland in the late 70s and managed to sneak them into the country when he returned to his home in Soweto. Swaziland was the home of his paternal grandparents.

While there he had the opportunity to interact with ANC exiles, particularly students from Soweto.

“I would listen to the cassettes when I was in my room. I must admit his speeches fortified me,” Nkosi said. On Tambo’s birthday on October 27, 1992, Nkosi gave him a birthday card.

In appreciation, Tambo wrote back to Nkosi in a letter dated December 8, 1992:

“Dear Comrade Duma Nkosi,

“I wish to thank you for the birthday card you sent me. It is always edifying to be remembered at such times. Oliver R Tambo ANC national chairman.” Tambo had by then handed the ANC reins to Mandela.