ANC Leaders, Foreign Delegations Attend Funeral for Apartheid Foe
The funeral of Oliver Tambo, architect of a decades-long struggle against apartheid in South Africa, took place Sunday under the shadow of a new massacre of whites by black gunmen.
Leaders from Tambo’s African National Congress and foreign dignitaries turned out at a soccer stadium for the funeral service, held in Soweto on the Johannesburg outskirts.
But in contrast with the funeral of slain Communist Party leader Chris Hani two weeks ago, when the stadium was packed to its 80,000 capacity, the crowd numbered only about 5,000.
The funeral service for Tambo, who was buried in a small cemetery in East Rand later in the day, followed an attack by three black gunmen on a hotel bar late Saturday in which five whites were killed.
Law and Order Minister Hernus Kriel urged all political leaders not to incite further political violence in the wake of the slayings.
The ANC has appealed to its followers to honor Tambo by preventing any repeat of violence that followed the April 10 assassination of Hani by a white killer. More than 80 people died in that outbreak.
President Clinton sent an 18-member delegation to honor Tambo, who died from heart failure just over a week ago at age 75.
Tambo, chairman of the ANC, had led the movement’s struggle against apartheid for three decades from exile.
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