Walter Sisulu: Difference between revisions

Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu
Secretary-General of the African National Congress
In office 1949–1954
Preceded by	James Arthur Calata
Succeeded by	Oliver Tambo
Deputy President of the African National Congress
In office July, 1991 – 1994
Preceded by	Nelson Mandela
Succeeded by	Thabo Mbeki
Personal details
Born	(1912-05-18)May 18, 1912 Engcobo, Transkei (now Eastern Cape), South Africa
Died	May 5, 2003(2003-05-05) (aged 90)
Political party	African National Congress
Spouse	Albertina Sisulu

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Organisations ANC APLA IFP AWB BBB Black Sash CCB Conservative Party DP ECC FOSATU PP RP PFP HNP MK PAC UDF Broederbond National Party COSATU Security Branch SACC SADF SAIC SAMA SAP SACP State Security Council
People Vernon Berrangé P. W. Botha Steve Biko Mangosuthu Buthelezi F. W. de Klerk Ruth First Bram Fischer Arthur Goldreich Chris Hani Bantu Holomisa Joel Joffe Ahmed Kathrada Albert Luthuli Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Mac Maharaj D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela Govan Mbeki Thabo Mbeki Raymond Mhlaba Benjamin Moloise Albertina Sisulu Walter Sisulu J. G. Strijdom Joe Slovo Robert Sobukwe Helen Suzman Adelaide Tambo Oliver Tambo Eugène Terre'Blanche Desmond Tutu H. F. Verwoerd B. J. Vorster Jacob Zuma
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Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (May 18, 1912 – May 5, 2003) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC).

He was born in Engcobo in the homeland of Transkei (now part of Eastern Cape Province, South Africa). Educated in a local missionary school, he left in 1926 to work. He moved to Johannesburg in 1928 and experienced a wide range of manual jobs. He joined the ANC in 1940. In 1943, together with Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, he joined the ANC Youth League, founded by Anton Lembede, of which he was initially the treasurer. He later distanced himself from Lembede after Lembede (died 1947) had ridiculed his parentage (Sisulu was the son of a white foreman). Sisulu was a brilliant political networker and had a prominent planning role in the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation"). He was made secretary general of the ANC in 1949, displacing the more passive older leadership, and held that post until 1954.

As a planner of the Defiance Campaign from 1952, he was arrested that year and given a suspended sentence. In 1953, he travelled to Europe, the USSR, Israel, and China as an ANC representative. He was jailed seven times in the next ten years, including five months in 1960, and was held under house arrest in 1962. At the Treason Trial (1956 - 1961), he was eventually sentenced to six years, but was released on bail pending his appeal. He went underground in 1963 but was caught at Rivonia on July 11. At the conclusion of the Rivonia Trial (1963 - 1964), he was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 12, 1964. With other senior ANC figures, he served the majority of his sentence on Robben Island.

In October 1989, he was released after 26 years in prison, and in July 1991 was elected ANC deputy president at the ANC's first national conference after its unbanning the year before. He remained in the position until after South Africa's first democratic election in 1994.

In 1992, Walter Sisulu was awarded Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, the highest honour granted by the ANC, for his contribution to the liberation struggle in South Africa.

He married Albertina in 1944. The couple had five children, and adopted four more. Sisulu's wife and children were also active in the struggle against apartheid.

The government of India awarded him Padma Vibhushan in 1998. Walter Sisulu was given a "special official funeral" on 17 May 2003.

In 2004 he was voted 33rd in the SABC3's Great South Africans.

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• "Obituary: Walter Sisulu" - BBC News obituary, dated Monday, 5 May, 2003
• "Anti-apartheid fighter Sisulu dies" - BBC News article, dated Tuesday, 6 May, 2003
• "South Africa mourns Sisulu" - BBC News article, dated Tuesday, 6 May, 2003
• "Nelson Mandela's tribute to Walter Sisulu" - BBC News article, dated Tuesday, 6 May, 2003
• An audio interview from September 1954 with Walter Sisulu condcuted by George M. Houser is on the website http://africanactivist.msu.edu/