A STATUE of the late former President of African National Congress (ANC) Oliver Reginald Tambo has been unvield at Albert Road Recreation Ground in London.

The event which was organised by Haringey Council in partnership withthe South African High Commission, the Friends of Albert Road Recreation Ground (FARRG), Alexandra Park Secondary School and Rhodes Avenue Primary School was to celebrate the borough's association with Mr Tambo, who was President of the ANC from 1969 to 1991.

Amidst traditional Zulu chants, sweet music from an acapella choir and the powerful voice South African superstar singer Yvonne Chaka Chake, the bust sculpted by the late Ian Walter, who also created the bronze statue of Nelson Mandela was jointly unvielded by Mrs Zanele Mbeki, wife of South African President Thabo Mbeki and Britain's Justice Secretary Hon. Jack Straw.

Dignitaries and senior political representatives from South Africa and the United Kingdom also attended the unveiling ceremony of a plaque on a property in Alexandra Park Road, London, where Oliver Tambo lived for many years with his wife Adelaide and their children during his long exile from his homeland from 1960.

In 1990 Oliver and Adelaide Tambo received the Freedom of the Borough of Haringey in recognition of their contribution to the struggle for freedom in their homeland and the inspiration they had provided for Haringey residents.

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