The death of struggle icon Albertina Sisulu has left the African National Congress devastated at the loss of a mother, ruling party spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said on Friday morning.
“If she was sick, we would have expected it. Even though she was 92, she was still up and about, her death has taken us by surprise,” Mthembu said.
“We are devastated that an icon and veteran of the ANC has passed on. When it was difficult to be loved by your own parents during the struggle, because they didn’t understand it, she was there to give us wonderful political guidance and motherly love.”
He said the party remained indebted to Sisulu and her leadership when the ANC was banned, and its leaders imprisoned or in exile.
“Mama Sisulu as an icon and a leader of the United Democratic Movement, gave leadership when it was unfashionable to lead. We owe so much of the freedom we enjoy today to people like her. We owe democracy to the likes of Mama Sisulu. We will miss her.”
President Jacob Zuma also paid tribute on Friday, saying in a statement: “A matriarch and a nurse by profession, Mama Sisulu was one of the foremost mothers of the nation and the last of the colossuses of the struggle for the liberation of South Africa”.”
He said Sisulu had, over the decades, been “a pillar of strength not only for the Sisulu family, but also the entire liberation movement as she reared, counselled, nursed and educated most of the leaders and founders of the democratic South Africa”.
“While we mourn her loss, we must thank her most profoundly for the selfless service to all South Africans and humanity at large, for her generosity of spirit and for teaching the nation humility, respect for human dignity and compassion for the weak, the poor and the downtrodden.”
Zuma said that as a former president of the United Democratic Front and together with her husband Walter Sisulu, a former ANC president who died at the age of 90 in 2003, Albertina Sisulu dedicated her adult life to the struggle for liberation in South Africa.
The Sisulus spent most of their lives as ambassadors and leaders of the African National Congress, but in the process endured decades of banishment, detention, humiliation and exile.
Zuma said South Africa remained eternally grateful and indebted to Albertina Sisulu, a stalwart of the liberation.
“On behalf of government and the people of South Africa, we would like to convey our deepest condolences to the Sisulu family and thank them profusely for dedicated their daughter, mother and grandmother to the service of humanity,” Zuma said.
Mthembu said the government would be working with the family to prepare for Sisulu’s funeral. The funeral announcement would be made in due course, he said.
A planning committee would also be tasked at organising a memorial service.
Sisulu died at her Linden home in Johannesburg on Thursday evening.
One of her sons, Mlungisi, reportedly said: “Mama was sitting in a chair watching the news as they prepared supper. And you know, all of a sudden she slumped to one side … Paramedics were called.
“In the house she was with two of her grandchildren … and the ladies who keep the house.”
Another of her children, Beryl, who is South Africa’s ambassador to Norway, said: “I think I’m still in shock because I was talking to my sister who was in the same room with her and she said she was fine, and the next 20 minutes you hear that she passed away.”
Meanwhile, family members have begun arriving at Sisulu’s house on Friday morning. – Sapa