Interview with Oliver Tambo by Le Monde, Addis Ababa, 08 June 1983

[Addis Ababa - "Each time one of us dies, thousands of others say they will have to ensure that the death was not in vain". A few hours after the hanging of the three ANC militants, the movement`s President, Oliver Tambo, reaffirmed in an interview with Le Monde the ANC`s determination to pursue the armed struggle until final victory is achieved over the apartheid regime.

"Those who died this morning," Mr. Tambo told us, "were struggling for a just cause. Nobody can stop that cause, for which so many people have already fallen, from triumphing. Each murder, each hanging, each massacre merely feeds the desire for revenge and mobilises us. The danger lies in the fact that the South African whites are not allowed to know what is really happening in the country. They are likely to be taken completely by surprise."]

Question: Does the bomb attack in Pretoria two weeks ago mark a change of strategy by the ANC?

TAMBO: No, there is not a change but merely a development of strategy.

We have explored all peaceful methods. For the past 20 years we have resorted to prudent and selective violence. We have attacked material targets and not individuals. We wanted to be sure that nobody would suffer the slightest scratch.

In reply to that our people were killed, imprisoned, and tortured, and it is becoming unreasonable to pay so dearly for our actions. When we attacked the SASOL oil installations we did not kill anybody. They responded by killing 12 of our militants in Matola. During the raid on Maseru in Lesotho, they killed several dozen of our people, and their supporters congratulated them. Their own operations show an escalation in the conflict.

The apartheid regime responded by massacres and murders. Nothing will deter us from pursuing the fight; we will carry on. The struggle belongs to the South African workers, to mothers of families and their children as much as to armed men. The South African regime thinks that by attacking its neighbours, it will save itself, but it is mistaken. The Frontline States are not directly engaged in our struggle, they are merely giving political support to the fight for our liberation.

Question: Does the ANC not fear that the use of urban "terrorism" causing an increasing number of black civilian victims might damage its cause?

TAMBO: Each time there is talk of civilian victims, it is whites that are referred to; how many black civilians have been killed in 30 years of apartheid? Thousands. The people who died in Sharpeville and Soweto were not soldiers. Steve Biko was a civilian. All the people hanged were civilians. That is not the problem. We are engaged in an armed struggle which has been imposed on us. When a woman or child dies because they were at the scene of an explosion, we are heartbroken. We are not fighting women and children, but soldiers. Our target is the enemy forces, the apartheid regime.

ES Reddy