By Doreen Mokgolo
The ANC leadership in Ekurhuleni was encouraged to follow in the footsteps of former ANC president OR Tambo during Wednesday’s annual wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate his death at the cemetery named after him in Wattville on the East Rand.
ANC NEC member Dakota Legoete said: “There were ups and downs and difficulties as he was leading this movement. There was a time he wanted to quit, but comrades Moses Kotane and JB Marks and Flag Boshielo had to intervene and talk him out of it.
“They told him he was the smartest and brightest in the party and they could not afford to lose him. They promised him that once freedom was achieved, he would be president.
“He carried that responsibility even after the death of then president Chief Albert Luthuli. He took and carried that baton to exile and came back to the country and brought the ANC safe into our hands.
“It is up to us as the current generation of the leadership of the ANC as to what we want to do with this heritage,” he said.
Tambo who co-founded the ANC Youth League with Nelson Mandela in 1944, returned to South Africa on 13 December 1990 after over 30 years in exile. He died on 24 April 1993, four days after Chris Hani’s assassination and one year before the 1994 general election, after which Nelson Mandela became president.
He remains the longest-serving president of the ANC to date.
At the event, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi called on all ANC members and leaders to participate in the door-to-door campaigns leading to the elections on 29 May.
“One thing is for sure, this region must give us decisive votes for the ANC,” he said.
Pictured above: ANC leaders at the wreath-laying ceremony for OR Tambo.
Image source: X
