Press Statement by O. R. Tambo, December 1964

    In a statement released in London on Wednesday, December 23rd, Mr. Z.B. Molete, Publicity Secretary of the Pan Africanist Congress, is reported to have said that there are talks being held between the ANC and PAC, with Mr. Diallo Telli participating.[1] He further states that at the end of November there was a meeting between Mr. Leballo and myself in the presence of Mr. Telli.

    Both the "talks" and the meeting are purely fictitious. Mr. Z.B. Molete knows perfectly well that there are no "talks" of any kind being held between the ANC and the PAC, and Mr. Diallo Telli is participating in no such talks.

    Mr. Molete also knows that although all the persons he mentioned, including himself, were in Algiers at the beginning (not the end) of November, at no time was there any meeting between Mr. Leballo and myself either in the presence of Mr. Diallo Telli or at all.    The PAC leaders, showing reckless disregard for the ultimate consequences, have taken many people for a ride by the simple technique of telling untruths and fashioning their stories to suit their chosen victims. The false picture of unity in which they irresponsibly drag in the name of the Secretary-General of the OAU serves the same purpose as the despicable and provocatively scandalous lies they have been spreading in Ghana about Nelson Mandela. In each case the intention is, characteristically, to deceive and mislead for purely selfish ends.

                                                        (Signed)

O.R. Tambo

Deputy President                                         African National Congress (S.A.)