ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa said greed and corruption were amongst the things that were damaging the party's reputation. Ramaphosa was addressing the members of his organisation today during a gathering commemorating 30 years since the passing of their late leader Oliver Reginald Tambo. The wreath laying ceremony was held at Wattville in Ekurhuleni. Tambo died on 24 April 1993 after a long illness. 

OR TAMBO'S TEACHINGS 

Addressing ANC members, Ramaphosa said the ANC remembers OR Tambo as the embodiment of selfless leadership, humility and compassion. He said throughout his life, OR Tambo fought to tear down the barriers of prejudice, ignorance and injustice. "OR Tambo understood that no matter the difficulties of the moment... He was the glue that bound together the members of the ANC who had left and been scattered around the world and those who had remained, he bound us all together and became the real glue," Ramaphosa said. He added that despite the progress that the party made, they acknowledge that most South Africans are unemployed. "It is only if we are united as the ANC, as the alliance and as a country that we will be able to overcome the many challenges that our people are facing today. Despite the advent we have made since the dawn of democracy, millions of our people are still faced with poverty, unemployment and inequality." Ramaphosa added.  

STATE CAPTURE 

Ramaphosa further said that the state capture was the direct assault of the beliefs of OR Tambo. "To overcome such events, we must be honest with ourselves and start following the beliefs of the former leader. OR Tambo was the leader who emphasised that we must be principled to the organisation. We have embarked on a programme of consultations with all alliance partners to work together and build a better South Africa," he added. He further said that ANC members need to start building partnerships in different local municipalities to make sure that they work with communities. "The ANC must follow OR Tambo's teachings and work together. We have embarked on a renewal programme to rebuild the movement. We need to embrace revolutionary discipline and by that we are saying people must follow the principles of the movement and placing people's needs first. We must honour the legacy of Tambo by doing what he believed was right for the people," he said adding that, ANC members need to continue to forge unity within the party and its alliance partners, in honour of OR Tambo.