Adelaide Tambo returns to South Africa after 30 years

Adelaide Tambo became politically active after her grandfather's arrest at the age of ten. While she attended high school, she started to work as a courier for the African National Congress (ANC). At the age of 18, she joined the ANC Youth League, where she met Oliver Tambo. The Tambos' were married in December 1956, and in 1960, they were asked by the ANC to continue their work abroad. They then settled in London, and apart from acting as a courier for her husband, Adelaide became a founding member of Afro-Asian Solidarity Movement and the Pan-African Women's Organisation (PAWO). With the unbanning of the ANC, Adelaide Tambo, along with her husband, returned to South Africa on 6 August 1990. She took up the position of national treasurer in the ANC Women's League, and served as a member in the South African Parliament from 1994 to 1999. In 2002, Adelaide Tambo was awarded with the Order of the Baobab in Gold for her exceptional commitment to the struggle against apartheid, and her dedication to community service and nation building.