Presidency Pays Tribute to Walter Sisulu

Today struggle stalwart, Walter Sisulu would have turned a 100 had he still been alive. The Presidency today issued a statement extending President Jacob Zuma's well wishes to the Sisulu family on this now sad, but auspicious occasion. "Sisulu was a symbol of humility, sacrifice, patriotism, measured thoughts and sound understanding. As his friend, comrade and compatriot, Tata Madiba said, Xhamela 'knew and taught us that wisdom comes form sharing insights and listening to and learning from each other", says Presidential spokesman, Mac Maharaj. Maharaj adds that it was the strength of his personality, humility and deep sense of purpose about life and the struggle which kept the spirits alive during the long periods of incarceration on Robben Island. Sisulu was born in the eNgcobo area of Transkei on 18 May 1912. Sisulu's father was a visiting white foreman supervising a black road-gang and his mother was a local Xhosa woman. Sisulu was raised by his mother and uncle, the local headman. Sisulu was an active Trade Unionist – he was fired from his bakery job in 1940 for organising a strike for higher wages. He spent the next two years trying to develop his own real estate agency. During 1940 Sisulu also joined the African National Congress, ANC, in which he allied with those pressing for black African nationalism and actively opposed black involvement in World War II. He gained a reputation as a street vigilante, patrolling his township's streets with a knife. He also obtained his first jail sentence – for punching a train conductor when he confiscated a black man's rail pass. Following the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 Sisulu, Mandela and several others formed Umkonto we Sizwe – the military wing of the ANC. During 1962 and 1963 Sisulu was arrested six times, although only the last led to a conviction. Released on bail in April 1963 Sisulu went underground, joining up with the MK. On 26 June he made a public broadcast from a secret ANC radio station describing his intentions.

On 11 July 1963 Sisulu was amongst those arrested at Lilieslief Farm, the secret headquarters of the ANC, and placed in solitary confinement for 88 days. A lengthy trail which started in October 1963 lead to a sentence of life imprisonment (for planning acts of sabotage), handed down on 12 June 1964. Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, and four others were sent to Robben Island. In 1982 Sisulu was transferred Pollsmoor Prison, Cape Town, after a medical examination at Groote Schuur Hospital. In October 1989 he was finally released – after serving 25 years.

Sisulu finally retired on the eve of South Africa's first multi-racial elections in 1994 – still living in the same Soweto house that his family had taken in the 1940s. On 5 May 2003, following a long period of ill health and only 13 days before his 91st birthday,Sisulu died "As we celebrate the achievement of democracy, freedom and equality that Sisulu and his compatriots bequeathed on this nation, we must do so with a deep sense of gratitude and humility. It should always remind us of our abiding responsibility to guard our hard earned democracy jealousy, and advance this country to higher levels of development, growth and prosperity by fighting hunger, poverty, inequality, disease and unemployment as a significant step to our economic freedom", says Maharaj Additional information: http://africanhistory.about.com/library/biographies/blbio-WalterSisulu.htm