'Oliver Tambo created Nelson Mandela': by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, "the mother of the struggle" and ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela.

Oliver Tambo deserves to be remembered. As far as I am concerned, in his own village, Kantolo, we should have a monument to OR. And I think we could have done something more in Mbizana to remember OR's name, because he is the father of the struggle, the father of democracy in this country.

He is the man we should honour and venerate as being responsible for the fact that the leaders from Robben Island, from all the prisons, were able to come out and still lead the country to freedom. No one could have kept the ANC together the way OR did. No one could have led us to freedom the way OR did--unassumingly and without any recognition. He didn't want it.

But I think we owe it to his legacy to at least honour him more than we are doing, so that future generations do not forget OR, so that it never happens again--that, post-revolution, history consumes its heroes.

Of course, he created Nelson Mandela. You see, this is the mistake that is very often made. It is not actually the men and women who sat in prison as such, who made our country what it is today. It was the sustained campaign, and a deliberate decision was made, that Mandela would be used as a symbol of resistance, a symbol of the ANC internationally, so that people could focus on the ANC through this particular name.

The ANC has always been all about the collectivity and centrality of the leadership of the people's popular movement. As such, there ought not be individualism which leads to autocracy. The masses will always remove such a leader in whatever manner necessary, no matter how long it takes them. OR knew that and preached that.

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During his leadership, there could never ever be cliques. There could never be camps because of that common background we came from. He could never entertain any type of criticism of others. OR had this ability to keep us together, those of us who were underground, and those of us who were operating internally, during extremely difficult times. At the mere mention of OR's name, you stood at attention. You automatically waited for an order. His name you knew. No matter how dangerous an order they had given you, if it was from OR, you never questioned it. Because you knew it was genuine, it was honest, it was sincere.

He was so unbelievably selfless. To the extent that it would have actually been a danger to himself, being so selfless. He would never think of himself in any regard. I have never identified with any human being as I do with him to this day. You just claim him, and the mere mention of his name brings such pride within you.

We came from exactly the same village [Kantolo]. We came from Bizana, the proud Pondo warriors of the day. We were born into traditional Pondoland where a child was born not to parents, but into the community. He adopted me as his own daughter because of our cultural upbringing. We had so much in common.

And he was the one who coined my name Nomzamo [which means, "mother of struggle"]. Oliver knew my father. Nomzamo comes from my real name, Zanyiwe, from which OR coined Nomzamo. That's how I became Nomzamo, mother of struggle. It is not in my ID. It was not given to me by my parents. It was OR who coined it for easy pronunciation. But what OR coined was the name that stuck. Because it was easier for him. Instead of saying Zanyiwe, he said Zami, and then we ended up with Nomzamo. He is so dear to me. Not even my biological father evokes the same love in me as OR.

Because here I was, a young girl, in the heart of the Transvaal [now Gauteng], and he just took over as a parent just as [his wife] Adelaide had already started. It was an umbilical cord type of relationship. And it reminded me of that very traditional background we came from.

But what hurts is that we never told him. We who were in that crossfire, ducking and diving bullets, we wanted to say so much to him. You know, had it not been for him, we wouldn't have had that courage to go on; the more difficult the going was, the more he propelled us to go on and on.

You just had to think of OR, and you knew you could undertake any task. He exuded an amazing amount of strength that was all embracing and, above all, you felt it was so honest. You felt you could never be in danger under OR.

He was a mentor to me and he monitored me even in Brandfort [where Winnie had been banished by the apartheid regime]. He telephoned me monthly at a public phone. It was at the time 051 999 Brandfort. He sought me out wherever I was. The very first contact I had from the outside world was from him. I broke down. I said: "Buti [brother], what do I do now? I am here, I cannot speak the language, they have banished me to this area. I don't know if you know where Zenani is? I'm with Zindzi. What do I do?"

Then OR said: "Zami, history provides. Do not do anything. History will provide a situation for you to react. Do not say anything. Remember that always in life. Sit when times are difficult, and just wait there. History will come to rescue you. You will get guidance from within, from yourself."

And I adopted that attitude from that day. I don't react to any crisis. I just wait for history to take its course. And I know I will be guided.