To wrap up the Tambo month, a wreath laying ceremony was held by Ekurhuleni at the Tamboville cemetery, in Wattville, on October 27.
Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa and Gauteng Premier, David Makhura joined Ekurhuleni mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele and the Tambo family at the annual event.
The ceremony saw the likes of the former President of Malawi, Doctor Joyce Banda and delegates from Lusaka, Zambia and Botswana gather in his memory.
Ramaphosa described OR Thambo as a man who loved his family and a giant who saw himself as nothing else but a servant.
“OR and Adelaide are legends of the liberation struggle. We should remember what they stood for. We as South African would not have been where we are today if it was not for them.
“They were they type of people who lived lives to advance other people’s lives; they left a huge legacy and made a positive impact on our lives.”
During his delivery at the OR Tambo’s Memorial Lecture, former deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe said: “To speak of comrade OR’s contribution to our attainment of freedom as a nation is to engage in an anatomy of the art of leadership,” he said.
“A Statesman, revolutionary, legal mind and deeply religious being, OR 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 soul’ (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.”
