Ceremony honours Oliver and Adelaide Tambo
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality hosted a wreath laying ceremony for both Oliver and Adelaide Tambo last week.
This year marks 21 years since Oliver Tambo‘s death, yet his contribution towards the liberation of South Africa is still celebrated with enthusiasm.
Mr Tambo was a loyal servant of the people who became a roving ambassador for the ANC.
He put the lives of marginalised people before his and made the world his home with the objective of seeing South Africa free from apartheid.
It is for this reason that Monday’s ceremony saw the likes of the former President of Malawi, Doctor Joyce Banda and delegates from Lusaka, Zambia and Botswana gather in his memory.
Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa and the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, also joined the executive mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele and the Tambo family at the annual event.
Clr Gungubele described the ceremony as the stage on which South Africa is pursuing the immortalisation of the memory of Oliver and Adelaide.
Deputy President Ramaphosa did not hold any punches as he spoke of Mr Tambo’s character, describing him as a man who loved his family and a giant who saw himself as nothing but a servant.
“Oliver and Adelaide are legends of the liberation struggle. We should remember what they stood for. We as South Africans would not be where we are today if it was not for Oliver and Adelaide. They were they type of people who lived their lives to advance other people’s lives, they left a huge legacy and made a positive impact on our lives,” said Deputy President Ramaphosa.
Former Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, echoed these sentiments during his delivery of the OR Tambo lecture later on Monday evening.
“To speak of Comrade Tambo’s contribution to our attainment of freedom as a nation is to engage in the anatomy of the art of leadership,” he said.
“A statesman, revolutionary, legal mind and deeply religious being, Tambo exercised consummate leadership during the historical period in South Africa, which the English philosopher Thomas Paine, would have had in mind when he said ‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ (ibid).”
“Oliver Reginald Tambo’s name will reverberate through the passage of time as one of the 20th century’s exemplars of civilising humanism. Along with those who came before and after him, he succeeded to challenge the nature of given reality,” concluded Motlanthe.
