However, the legacy of this great leader lives on.
The 2013 programme to celebrate the life and legacy of this struggle icon started when the annual Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Liberation Walk took place in Bonaero Park this past weekend recently.
Cabinet ministers, Maite Nkona-Mshabane and Dipuo Peters, and other dignitaries including the Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor, Mondli Gungubele, took part in the event.
The event was aimed at raising funds to develop Tambo’s first school, Ludeke Primary School in Mbizaza, in the Eastern Cape.
The city of Ekurhuleni will host the Ekurhuleni Melting Pot National Choral Festival on October 19 during the month-long programme. Held at Carnival City’s Big Top Arena, the festival will see the country’s top ten choirs compete for the number one spot and R250 000 in prize money.
The festival will begin at 8.30am at the OR Tambo Memorial Gravesite, where a thousand voices will sing a tribute 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 OR Tambo programme.
October 27, the birth date of OR Tambo, is the pinnacle of OR Tambo month. It will be marked with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tambo Memorial Gravesite, which was declared a national Heritage Site on the same day last year by deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
Laying wreaths at the gravesite has become a custom for the City of Ekurhuleni, 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. The other major activity has, in the past, attracted high profile leaders such as President Jacob Zuma, Kgalema Motlanthe, a number of cabinet ministers, leadership of the ANC and the tripartite alliance, and other political leaders.
A group of 500 pupils from various high schools in Ekurhuleni will meet to debate about the influence Tambo had on the social cohesion and racial integration of South African society. This will take place on October 18 at the East Rand School of Arts.
Municipalities from across the country will converge on the City of Tshwane where the OR Tambo Inter-Municipal Games will take place on October 25.
“From whatever facet of life you come from, Tambo has been a star. Be it science, arts and culture, or sports,” said Clr Mondli Gungubele. “Apartheid diverted African people from focusing on issues that are key for social cohesion and social construction,” he added.
For more information on the OR Tambo month programme, contact Lebogang Ramashala on 011 999-0111 or 083 596 3339 or email lebogang.ramashala@ekurhuleni.gov.za
