African National Congress veteran Walter Sisulu, born in 1912, the year the ANC was founded, died on Monday. He would have turned 91 on May 18.
He died at his Johannesburg home, in the arms of his wife Albertina, herself a legend in her own lifetime. Sisulu’s death was officially announced late on Monday night, and almost immediately his old friend, world statesman Nelson Mandela sent a tribute.
”Xhamela is no more. May he live forever! His absence has carved a void. A part of me is gone,” Mandela lamented.
The ANC responded to the news with deep sorrow.
”It is with a heavy heart and profound sense of loss that the African National Congress learned of the death this evening (Monday) of Isithwalandwe Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu, a giant of the liberation struggle and one of the founding fathers of South Africa’s democracy,” the ANC said in a statement.
Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe extended the party’s condolences to the Sisulu family.
”We join them in mourning the loss of a father and a hero,” he said.
The ANC paid tribute to Sisulu, who it described as an African patriot whose heroism, humility and leadership earned him the respect and love of millions of people.
The New National Party’s tribute followed soon after Mandela’s. Leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said South Africa had lost a formidable leader who had strived his whole life to bring about democratic and just dispensation.
”He will always be known and remembered as one of the great sons of our land. He succeeded in combining intellect with a common touch. The New National Party would like to extend our sympathy to his family and large circle of friends.”
Mandela’s impassioned statement spoke of a 62-year-old friendship.
”Our paths first intersected in 1941. During the past 62 years our lives have been intertwined. We shared the joy of living, and the pain,” Mandela said in a statement sent to Sapa late on Monday night.
”Together we shared ideas, forged common commitments. We walked side by side through the valley of death, nursing each other’s bruises, holding each other up when our steps faltered. Together we savoured the taste of freedom.”
”In a sense I feel cheated by Walter. If there be another life beyond this physical world I would have loved to be there first so that I could welcome him. Life has determined otherwise,” Mandela added.
”I now know that when my time comes, Walter will be there to meet me, and I am almost certain he will hold out an enrolment form to register me into the ANC in that world, cajoling me with one of his favourite songs (which) we sang when mobilising people behind the Freedom Charter.
”I shall miss his friendship and counsel. Till we meet again, Hamba kahle, Xhamela. Qhawe la ma Qhawe! (Go well, Rest in Peace, Xhamela. Hero among heroes.)”
Sisulu came to Johannesburg from Engcobo, Transkei in 1929. He later worked in the mines and joined the ANC in 1940.
He was among the group of radicals who formed the Youth League in 1943/44.
Under Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Mandela’s leadership the ANC began sponsoring non-violent protests, strikes, boycotts, and marches, in the process becoming a target of police harassment and arrest.
By the end of World War II the ANC had begun strong agitation against the pass laws, and when the largely white electorate voted in the National Party in 1948, the ANC’s membership grew rapidly, rising to 100 000 in 1952.
In 1944, he married Nontsikelelo Albertina, with whom he was to have five children.
He was elected ANC deputy president at its national conference of July 1991 and remained in that position until after South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994.
In January 1992, Sisulu was awarded Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, the highest honour granted by the ANC, for his contribution to the struggle for liberation. Sisulu remained active in the ANC following the end of his term as deputy president in December 1994. For several years he maintained an office in the ANC’s Johannesburg headquarters and undertook a number of responsibilities on behalf of the organisation. – Sapa