After this, Tambo was admitted to the University of Fort Hare but in 1940 he, along with several others including Nelson Mandela, was expelled for participating in a student strike.

In 1955, Tambo became Secretary-general of the ANC after Sisulu was banned by the South African government under the Suppression of Communism Act.

[citation needed] On 30 December 1979 in Lusaka, Zambia, Tambo as president and Alfred Nzo, then secretary-general of the ANC, met Tim Jenkin, Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris, ANC members and escapees from incarceration at Phillip Kgosi Prison as political prisoners.

Along with his comrades, among whom were Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, and Walter Sisulu, Tambo directed and facilitated several attacks against the South African public.

[citation needed] In an interview in 1985, Tambo was quoted as saying: "In the past, we were saying the ANC will not deliberately take innocent life, but now, looking at what is happening in South Africa, it is difficult to say civilians are not going to die.

[5][6] The attack was orchestrated by a special operations unit of the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), commanded by Aboobaker Ismail.

The legal representative of some of the victims argued that as they were administrative staff, including telephonists and typists, they could not be considered a legitimate military target.

[citation needed] In October of that year, Tambo gave an important interview to the editor of the Cape Times newspaper, Tony Heard, in which he outlined the ANC's position and vision for a future, non-racial, South Africa.

His death came 14 days after Chris Hani's assassination and one year before the 1994 general election in which Nelson Mandela became President.

The decision to cancel the results was largely informed by the fact that the majority of blacks South Africans did not participate in the voting, as SABC3 caters predominantly to English speakers.

Then-President Thabo Mbeki at this time did not side with this idea,[citation needed] and there was a behind closed door meeting deliberating on this.

There is a sculpture of Tambo at the Albert Road Recreation Ground, Muswell Hill, close to his London home.

[19] In June 2013, the city of Reggio Emilia in Italy celebrated Tambo with the creation of a park dedicated to the President of the African National Congress.

His house at 51 Alexandra Park Road, Muswell Hill, London, was purchased by the South African Government in 2010 as a historic monument and now bears a plaque.

[23] To conclude the centenary celebrations of the birth of Tambo, a commemoration was held at Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Moroka, Soweto on 27 October 2017.