Republican News · Thursday 8 May 2003

Death of Walter Sisulu

Walter Sisulu, former Secretary-General of the ANC, died on Monday in the arms of his wife at their Johannesburg home. He was two weeks shy of his 91st birthday.

Nelson Mandela, his friend and fellow political prisoner, called him his mentor and said his death had left a void in his life.

Sisulu brought Mandela into the African National Congress (ANC), the movement that fought for and won liberation for South Africans from white minority rule. They jointly co-founded the militant ANC Youth League (ANCYL), with their colleague and late ANC leader Oliver Tambo.

Sisulu was born to a poor family in Transkei, (now the Eastern Cape Province) in 1912 - the year the ANC was created. In 1949 he became ANCYL secretary. He published a book on African nationalism commissioned by the government of India in 1954. In the early '50s and '60s, he also wrote numerous articles for New Age, the Guardian and Liberation.

He, Mandela and another 154 South Africans from all races were charged with treason in 1956. They were all acquitted after a five-year trial that failed to neutralise the ANC leadership.

He was involved in the transformation of the ANC in 1960-1961 to underground work and armed struggle.

Sisulu was also involved in numerous campaigns and was on the Joint Planning Council that organised the national day of protest that became 'South African Freedom Day'. Throughout all this time he was harassed by the police, and was arrested six times in 1962 before being placed under house arrest.

In 1963, he and others were arrested at the ANC's secret headquarters in Rivonia. After the landmark treason trial, Sisulu, Mandela and others were convicted of plotting anti-government sabotage and were sent to Robben Island, the notorious prison off Cape Town.

The death penalty was expected, but the judge handed down life sentences. Some of this was due to the international pressure of the highly publicised trial, but one of the defence lawyers remembers that Sisulu chose to take the stand at the trial, and devastated the prosecution during cross examination.

On Robben Island he completed a BA in Art history and anthropology.

Sisulu was released from prison on 15 October 1989 and elected deputy president at the ANC National Conference in July 1991. He became a patron of numerous organisations within the liberation movement, and received many honorary degrees.

His political experience in the struggle taught him that simple nationalist slogans were inadequate - that behind the great repressive state in South Africa was a ruling class based on complex forms of class and colour exploitation, each supplementing the other to oppress Africans.

His dignity, warmth and dedication made him one of Africa's esteemed leaders and many of his outstanding contributions were due to the sacrifices of his wife, Albertina, a brave and militant comrade.

Speaking on Tuesday after learning of Walter's death, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams expressed his great regret.

"I had the honour of meeting him on my first visit to South Africa in 1995 and while he was completely unassuming, the strength of his personality and character shone out.

"Walter was a great servant of the ANC and a fearless champion of the South African Freedom Struggle. He had a huge interest in Ireland and an affinity in particular with the H-Block hunger strikers and the women prisoners in Armagh. His death is a sad loss to humanity, particularly to all people in struggle. That sadness will be tempered by the celebration of his life and joy that he live to see the end of the Apartheid and the beginning of democracy in his beloved South Africa.

"I extend solidarity to the Sisulu family, to his comrades in the ANC and to his many friends around the world."