However, the legacy of this great leader lives on.
The 2013 programme to celebrate the life and legacy of this struggle icon got underway when the annual Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Liberation Walk recently took place, in Bonaero Park.
Cabinet Ministers Maite Nkona-Mshabane and Dipuo Peters, and other dignitaries, including Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele, took part in the event, which is aimed at raising funds to develop Tambo’s first school, Ludeke Primary School, in Mbizaza, Eastern Cape.
October 19 is the next big date in the month-long programme, where Ekurhuleni will be hosting a first, in the Ekurhuleni Melting Pot National Choral Festival.
The festival will be held in Carnival City’s Big Top Arena, and will see the country’s top 10 choirs compete for the number one spot, and R250 000 in prize money.
The festival will start at 8.30am, at the O R Tambo Memorial Gravesite, where 1 000 voices will sing a tribute to Oliver and Adelaide Tambo.
At 9.30am, the competition will kick off at Carnival City, and the prize giving ceremony will take place at 5pm.
Zakes Bantwini, Siphokazi and Afrotenor are also in the line-up for this musical feast.
Oliver Tambo loved classical and chorale music – having been an accomplished choir master himself.
This is the reason the city decided to introduce the choral music festival as one of the elements of the month-long O R Tambo programme.
On October 27, the birth date of OR Tambo, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at the Tambo Memorial Grave Site – which was declared a National Heritage Site on the same day, last year, by deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
Laying wreaths at the grave site has become a custom for the metro as it is a traditional way of paying respect to the late couple.
The ceremony is beneficial to members of the community and dignitaries who attend, as speakers share important information about the legacy left by those being celebrated.
Some 500 learners from various high schools in Ekurhuleni will meet to debate about the influence that O R Tambo had on social cohesion and the racial integration of South African society.
This will take place on October 18, at the East Rand School of Arts.
On October 25, municipalities from all over the country will converge in the City of Tshwane, where the O R Tambo Inter Municipal Games will take place.
“From whatever facet of life you come, O R has been a star,” said Ekurhuleni mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele.
“Apartheid diverted African people from focusing on issues that are key for social cohesion and social construction.”
