/ 19 July 2013

Mama Tambo’s legacy

Executive mayor of Ekurhuleni Mondli Gungubele
Executive mayor of Ekurhuleni Mondli Gungubele

What role did Adelaide Tambo play to help establish Ekurhuleni as it stands today?
It is a great honour that the city is associated with such an accomplished family. We are proud to be the home of the Tambos resting place. Ekurhuleni means “a place of peace” in Tsonga.

It is a conglomerate of nine towns of the former East Rand that came together to create a better life for the people of Ekurhuleni. One of Mama Tambo’s characteristics was that of a peaceful organiser and unifier.

What is Adelaide Tambo’s continued legacy in Ekurhuleni and its communities?
She was a political and social giant. She balanced the two so well because she believed that while the struggle for liberation continued, the general living standards of our people need not be left behind. The city devotes OR Tambo’s birth month of October to activities that remind us who they were, what they stood for and the sacrifice they made for all of us to be free.

The activities range from school debates, memorial lectures and a wreath-laying ceremony. It starts with a liberation walk to illustrate the long walk to freedom that these great leaders took in the struggle for liberation. The Tambo Month programme commenced just after the city conferred the freedom of the city on both OR and Dr Adelaide in the mid-2000s.

We have also built a multi-million rand Tambo Cultural Precinct in Wattville that houses, among others, the Oliver Tambo Museum and an educational centre. Our tourism department has introduced the OR Tambo route, which takes you from the OR Tambo International Airport all the way to the national heritage site (the grave of OR and Dr Adelaide Tambo at the Tamboville Cemetery in Wattville) and then the cultural precinct.

How does Ekurhuleni contribute to upholding the standards and goals that Adelaide Tambo set for her and her community?
Dr Tambo was a very generous person. Her empathy saw many of our less fortunate people receiving help. Needy children now go home with full stomachs because of a feeding scheme that she helped establish. She also helped establish a computer school in Etwatwa and assisted a number of youngsters to further their studies.

We ensure that these programmes do not fail, and work closely with the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation in assisting other community development projects.

What role did Adelaide Tambo have in your life as a politician?
Mama Tambo played a critical role in shaping my political life. When I was young I looked up to Mama Tambo, OR, Nelson Mandela, Walter and Albertina Sisulu and others who devoted their lives to the struggle.

I took personal interest in the struggle for liberation as a young man growing up in the Eastern Cape from following the lives of our forebearers of the struggle. Through their leadership I am still involved in politics and believe that the struggle must continue until we have defeated unemployment, poverty and inequality. This would make Mama very happy.

Anything else that’s important?
Mama Tambo is among the three recipients of freedom of the city (the others being the late Chris Hani and OR Tambo). We wanted to acknowledge the role they played in the liberation of all South Africans and we believe in their values of creating a life where people have proper shelter, quality health care and do not go to sleep hungry.

I thank the Tambo family for lending us a leader of this calibre whose devotion, sacrifice, commitment, respect, selflessness and patriotism to the liberation of all South Africans from the shackles of apartheid can never be doubted.