Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu, veteran anti-apartheid activist who spent more than two decades in jail, died in Johannesburg on Monday night, just a few days before his 91st birthday.
Born In Transkei on May 18, 1912, the year that the ANC was founded, Sisulu gave up his youth for the struggle to liberate South Africa. He left school in standard four and worked as a labourer in several jobs. He was fired from one of these jobs — in a bakery — for organising a strike.
Sisulu was one of seven African National Congress (ANC) activists including Nelson Mandela to be sentenced to life imprisonment in the historic 1963 Rivonia Treason Trial.
While at Robben Island he resumed his studies and gained a BA degree from Unisa. In 1989 he walked out of Robben Island a free man after the-then National Party government unbanned political organisations.
But the loss of his youth behind bars was clearly visible in his aging features and posture.
He leaves behind his wife Albertina, a popular activist in her own right, sons Max, Zwelakhe and Mlungisi and daughters Lindiwe and Nonkululeko.
The Sisulus are a household name in South Africa and are widely respected. The entire family have spent their lives in the liberation struggle and in the new democracy have taken active roles in the transformation of society.
The Sisulu children and their mother faced years of incarceration through detentions, house arrests, banning orders and police brutality.
The 23 years that Sisulu spent on Robben Island may have taken its toll on the veteran anti-apartheid activist but his commitment to the stuggle for a better life for all South Africans remained solid.
Barely able to see and walk, Sisulu mustered every bit of energy to attend the odd function where his arrival was always greeted with much enthusiasm and freedom songs from crowds who missed his public appearances.
Though not as charismatic as Nelson Mandela, he commanded the same level respect within the ANC. As one of the foremost leaders of the ANC and its first general secretary, Sisulu built the organisation with Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Anton Lembede, A B Xuma and others. His entire adult life, like Mandela’s had been devoted to the cause they were prepared to give up their lives for.
He held firmly to his statement at the Rivonia trail: “I wish to make this solemn vow in full appreciation of the consequences it entails. As long as I enjoy the confidence of my people, and as long as there is a spark of life and energy in me, I shall fight with courage and determination for the abolition of discriminatory laws and for the freedom of all South Africans irrespective of colour or creed.”
Sisulu joined the ANC in 1940 and became its first general secretary in 1949, a position he held until 1954. He co-founded the ANC Youth League which was instrumental in turning the organisation into a mass based liberation movement. Sisulu also mentored the young Mandela when they were in the youth league.
Before his banishment to Robben Island, Sisulu had faced constant police harassment and bouts of detention and had to flee underground several times but his faith and commitment to the struggle was unshakeable. He continued to plan and mobilise major campaigns and mass action against apartheid.
The year before his release, he was chosen as Deputy President of the ANC at the party’s national congress in July 1991. Unlike many others in the ANC, Sisulu remained humble and lived in his old family home in Soweto till his death. Many people saw this as a remarkable trait in him at a time when the party’s top and middle level leadership were seduced by the materialism they once denounced, flashy cars, fancy homes and a jet-set lifestyle.
Both Sisulus, Walter and Albertina have maintained credibility and steadfastness in their beliefs. At their wedding in 1944, Youth League chairman Anton Lembede said to the bride: “You are marrying a man who is already married to the nation”.
That is how Sisulu lived his entire life. – I-Net Bridge