Madiba calls for unity in ANC

JOHANNESBURG – Former South African president Nelson Mandela used Saturday’s funeral of his close friend and African National Congress stalwart Adelaide Tambo to call for unity in the ruling party and a return to the values of a disappearing generation of heroes.

Tambo, who died at her Johannesburg home on January 31 at the age of 77, was buried alongside her husband, Oliver, in the Tamboville Cemetery after the funeral service in which Mandela and President Thabo Mbeki addressed mourners. The streets around her burial site in Wattville, the town east of Johannesburg where the Tambos lived before going into exile in 1960, were lined with posters naming her as an ambassador for the poor and residents lined the streets to pay their respects.Like her husband who led the ANC in exile while Mandela was imprisoned, Tambo was a lifelong political activist.Fondly known as Ma-Tambo or Mama Adelaide, who shares a birthday with Mandela, was widely regarded as a mother figure to anti-apartheid figures in exile, including Mbeki.A frail-looking Mandela in a black shirt with a red Aids ribbon, sat on the stage with his wife Graca Machel, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, members of the Tambo family and other ANC dignitaries.He did not attend the burial service at the cemetery later.The 88-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was helped to his feet and walked to the podium leaning heavily on a cane.But standing with his usual straight posture, Mandela beamed as the crowd roared their support for him.”Nelson Mandela.Nelson Mandela.There is no one like him,” they sang in isiSotho.His address, a rare long one, began on a solemn note.”Once more we come to pay respect to members of our generation of freedom fighters.Over the last few years we have with increasing frequency had to walk this route,” he said.The ties between Mandela and the Tambo’s are strong and form part of the history of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the victory against white minority rule.The two men shared law offices in downtown Johannesburg, the country’s first black legal partnership.They were arrested and charged with treason along with 155 others ANC members in 1956, interrupting the Tambo’s plans to wed.In the audience were other peers of Mandela and the Tambo’s.This included wheelchair-bound Albertina Sisulu whose husband Walter, a close ally of Mandela and Oliver Tambo, died in 2003.Many were with their children and grandchildren.Nampa-APThe streets around her burial site in Wattville, the town east of Johannesburg where the Tambos lived before going into exile in 1960, were lined with posters naming her as an ambassador for the poor and residents lined the streets to pay their respects.Like her husband who led the ANC in exile while Mandela was imprisoned, Tambo was a lifelong political activist.Fondly known as Ma-Tambo or Mama Adelaide, who shares a birthday with Mandela, was widely regarded as a mother figure to anti-apartheid figures in exile, including Mbeki.A frail-looking Mandela in a black shirt with a red Aids ribbon, sat on the stage with his wife Graca Machel, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, members of the Tambo family and other ANC dignitaries.He did not attend the burial service at the cemetery later.The 88-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was helped to his feet and walked to the podium leaning heavily on a cane.But standing with his usual straight posture, Mandela beamed as the crowd roared their support for him.”Nelson Mandela.Nelson Mandela.There is no one like him,” they sang in isiSotho.His address, a rare long one, began on a solemn note.”Once more we come to pay respect to members of our generation of freedom fighters.Over the last few years we have with increasing frequency had to walk this route,” he said.The ties between Mandela and the Tambo’s are strong and form part of the history of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the victory against white minority rule.The two men shared law offices in downtown Johannesburg, the country’s first black legal partnership.They were arrested and charged with treason along with 155 others ANC members in 1956, interrupting the Tambo’s plans to wed.In the audience were other peers of Mandela and the Tambo’s.This included wheelchair-bound Albertina Sisulu whose husband Walter, a close ally of Mandela and Oliver Tambo, died in 2003.Many were with their children and grandchildren.Nampa-AP