Deputy President Paul Mashatile has urged South Africans to honour the legacy of struggle stalwart and former ANC president Oliver Reginald Tambo through active citizenship, responsible voting and service to their communities.

Mashatile delivered the keynote address at the annual wreath-laying ceremony, attended by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Tambo’s son Dali and City of Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza alongside other leaders, at Tamboville Cemetery in Wattville on October 27, which also marked Tambo’s birthday.

He said building a better South Africa was a shared responsibility that required government and citizens to work together.

“The greatest tribute we can pay to OR Tambo is not simply to remember him each year. It is to live by the values he embodied,” he said.

Mashatile reflected on Tambo’s lifelong commitment to the liberation struggle, highlighting how he led the ANC in exile for three decades, mobilised international support and kept alive the hope of a free and democratic South Africa.

Tambo died in April 1993, a year before the country’s first democratic elections, never experiencing the freedom for which he had sacrificed so much.

“He dedicated his life to securing freedoms that he would never fully enjoy,” Mashatile said, adding that thousands of men and women had made similar sacrifices so future generations could determine their own destiny.

Mashatile stressed that active citizenship also meant participating in community initiatives, protecting public resources, holding leaders accountable and working collectively to address the country’s challenges.

While government had a responsibility to tackle poverty, unemployment, inequality and crime, he said nation-building could not rest on government alone.

“We cannot afford to be spectators in the project of building our nation. We must all be active participants,” he said.

He called on citizens to volunteer their time, assist vulnerable people, stand against corruption and criminality, and choose unity over division.

Mashatile also emphasised the importance of ethical leadership, peaceful elections and respect for democratic institutions, urging South Africans to express political differences through debate and the ballot box rather than violence and intimidation.

He said the country’s freedom remained incomplete while poverty, unemployment and inequality continued to affect millions of people.

“We are the custodians of his legacy. We are the beneficiaries of the freedom for which he fought, and we bear the responsibility of ensuring that future generations inherit a country that is more secure and more prosperous than the one we inherited,” he said.

Mashatile concluded that Tambo’s legacy would endure through the actions of citizens committed to building a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. Meanwhile Xhakaza called for ethical leadership in honour of Tambo.

“We should show appreciation for the immense sacrifices Tambo made for the attainment of the freedom we now enjoy through ethical leadership and fast-tracking service delivery so that we better the lives of all citizens,” said Xhakaza.