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Paying tribute to a true Mother,
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MaSisulu liberated us all
I
f anyone ever fully deserved the title of Mother of the
Nation it was Albertina Sisulu.
She was our mother in many different ways:
Q A physical mother, both to her own children and
hundreds of others who visited and stayed at her
and Walter Sisulu’s home.
Q A spiritual mother, as she embodied all the values
that we strive and hope for in our country
Q A guiding mother as someone who quietly advised
and pointed the way, without getting lost in the nonproductive emotions of aggression and anger.
Q A comforting mother, as someone who went through
all the pain and hurt of apartheid herself, but never
allowed it to diminish from her outreach to others,
and her embodiment of bravery and integrity.
Let us never forget that she was banned for almost
two decades, and, as a result of that banning, had
almost lost her much treasured ability to look after her
children and family.
During that time she never lost her charm, her
dignity, and her ability to inspire each and every person
that she came into contact with.
She literally created a womb for the downtrodden
by Mathews Phosa
ANC Treasurer General
and oppressed to hide in, and to feel the warmth of
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resistance.
What are the lessons that we can take from her life,
and use as guiding principles as we attempt to pick up
her spear:
Q A strong family unit, such as the one that she and
Walter provided to their family, forms the basis of
any healthy and strong society.
Q The role of the mother as the glue that holds the
broader family together is still as valid today as it
ever, was.
Q As a mother in the deepest sense, women are, by
GH¿QLWLRQOHDGHUVDQGQRQHZDVPRUHVRWKDQ0D
Sisulu.
Q 5HVLVWDQFH FDQ EH FDOP GLJQL¿HG DQG SHDFHIXO
When anger is not met by anger, resistance is at it’s
most powerful and strongest.
Q Our sense of family is strengthened by the examples
of leaders such as Mrs Sisulu as a result of her
example of making the family home a parliament
of debate, of education, and of warmth, caring and
love.
Q /HDGHUVKLSLVQRWGH¿QHGE\FLUFXPVWDQFH QRUWLWOH
it can manifest in any place, from simple homes to
the National Assembly.
We are all children and pupils of the Sisulu’s, of both
maSisulu and Walter – long may their memories live
in our hearts and minds, and long may their examples
guide and pull us into the future.
Whenever we stumble, we can look to their lives to
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of an fully educated and economically strong South
Africa.
We also stand here today in happiness and joy:
namely that Ma Sisulu and her family could live to see
and taste the fruits of liberation that they fought so hard
for, and suffered so deeply to achieve.
Through her, and her husband, as well as her
family’s life, she liberated us all!!
A true Mother of the Nation
T
he ANC Veterans League has learned with great
shock about the untimely demise of Comrade
Mama Albertina Sisulu, one of the leading lights of our
freedom and democracy. In this moment of grief, we
would like to say to the entire Sisulu family that our
thoughts and prayers are with you. Your loss is also
our loss.
Mama Albertina was a very remarkable and
personable person. Her demeanour and character was
always warm and easy. Meeting her always gave the
impression that one is standing in front of a teacher,
which in fact she was.
Comrade Mama Albertina Sisulu was indeed truly a
Mother of our nation. She has earned unquestionably
earned that title. She was a veteran and heroine of
many epic battles of our struggle against apartheid
and oppression. Her participation and leadership dates
back to the early 1940s. She was and will continue
forever to be an inspiration to our people, both women
by ANC Veterans League
and men, young and old. Even though Mama Albertina
was married to the venerable Comrade Walter Sisulu,
she was nevertheless a leader of our movement in her
own right. Mama Sisulu led by example and she led
from the front, and whatever the threads of danger to
her person she always remained unfazed.
In all the many activities of our movement, from
WKH WLPH RI WKH 'H¿DQFH &DPSDLJQ IRUPXODWLRQ RI
and adoption of the Freedom Chapter at Kliptown,
the Women’s March to the Union Building in 1956,
the formation of Umkhonto We Sizwe in December in
1961 and the protracted period of underground work
by the entire movement, Comrade Albertina showed
2
remarkable dedication, commitment, resilience and
courage to keep the struggle going. In spite of the
countless incarcerations and harassment including
those of her husband and children, the apartheid rulers
failed dismally to break her no matter the nature of the
dangers visited upon her.
The values and principles she inculcated in all of
us, encouraged many of us to swell the ranks of the
movement including the MK. For those of us sent by
the Organisation to far- away countries for training
we followed with trepidation all the courageous acts
against the brutal racist regime which were inspired by
your steadfast leadership. You were one of a kind and
certainly a beacon of hope.
When in 1967 the glorious Luthuli Detachment
crossed the Zambezi River fully armed headed home
to South Africa it was inspired by the knowledge that
our people under the guidance of the likes of Mama
Albertina, would welcome them with both hands.
Equally, our cadres who went to Sipolilo to secure the
route home they knew that the same warm reception
awaited them.
The Veterans’ League salute you, MAMA
ALBERTINA SISULU, for the invaluable contribution
that you and your entire family have made for the
liberation of our beautiful country. Mama Sisulu’s life
deserve to be celebrated by the entire South African
nation and her name shall for ever be etched in the
annals of this country.
Long live the memory of Mama Albertina Sisulu!
Long live the Women’s League!
Hamba Kahle!
Mama Sisulu: a genuine
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other of the nation, Mama Nontsikelelo Albertina
Sisulu, former Deputy President of the African
National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL), was,
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of us in the progressive and revolutionary movement.
Born on 21 October 1918, six years after the
formation of the ANC, and peacefully departing in the
comfort of her home on 2 June 2011, less than a year
before the ANC turns 100, her entire life has been
LQH[WULFDEO\OLQNHGWRGH¿QLQJPRPHQWVLQWKHKLVWRU\RI
the movement.
She was a nation-builder and a nurturer who could
not be separated from the nation and the people. It is
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in the service of the people.
Mama Sisulu will be remembered for never stepping
away from the heartbeat of the people’s movement
and the nation it served and freed from the shackles
of white minority rule. She was literally one with the
people, in sickness and in health.
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mother, a national leader, a highly regarded mentor,
a cherished stalwart and icon of the South African
revolution, her name will continue to evoke deep
feelings of respect and admiration within the ANC, the
ANCWL and within the entire Alliance.
Consistently, in the character of rare gems leased to
the world of mortals once in a lifetime, through her good
deeds, she got to be held in high esteem by all who
knew her, beyond political and ideological boundaries.
It is to those of her stature that the world keeps a
watchful eye nodding at every turn when their own lives
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fascist state like the apartheid regime. Indeed we have
lost a mother of the nation.
It is this reality of the largeness of her life that
drove Dr Thami Mazwai to say on learning of her
heartbreaking departure that Mama Sisulu was “a
WRZHULQWKHKHDY\¿JKW´against the apartheid regime
and “a source of support”.
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All her life she fought for freedom and for the good
of others. This is a dominant virtue highlighted in the
avalanche of messages of sympathy and condolences
we have received.
We all know, and that’s the reason why the country is
in mourning, this humble and impeccable ANC veteran
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As early as the 1950s, she played an active role in
the launch of the Federation of South African Women,
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patriarchal domination and gender oppression.
We shall not forget that with gallant women of this
country, she marched to Pretoria against the pass laws,
in August 1956.
She held various positions, with distinction, including
co-president of the United Democratic Front in 1983.
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including police harassment, detention and banning
orders.
True to her resolve, she fought against apartheid
to the bitter end, and still carried to a higher level the
VHOÀHVV¿JKWIRUWKHUHFRQVWUXFWLRQDQGGHYHORSPHQWRI
her country beyond 1994 when the people for the very
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Mama Sisulu who went on to become a member
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entire life to the creation of “a democratic state, based
on the will of all the people, [that] can secure to all
WKHLU ELUWKULJKW ZLWKRXW GLVWLQFWLRQ RI FRORXU UDFH VH[
or belief” – a society “wherein the national wealth of
by Angie Motshekga
President of the ANC Women’s League
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restored to the people”, as envisioned in the Freedom
Charter.
Her role and that of her husband, Walter Sisulu,
another ANC stalwart and revered veteran, touched
our lives in many memorable ways. It is no exercise in
hyperbole to say theirs was indeed a truly South African
love story intrinsically linked to the fate and destiny of
our people.
Luli Callinicos, a social historian wrote in Oliver
7DPER%H\RQGWKH(QJHOL0RXQWDLQV(2004:197) that
Albertina Thethiwe (Mama Sisulu’s maiden name) was
a “sensible woman with an acute social conscience”.
She neatly captured “WKH KDUPRQ\ RI WKH 6LVXOX¶V
UHODWLRQVKLS >ZKLFK@ ZDV DQ LQVSLUDWLRQ WR :DOWHU¶V
friends”, who included Baba Madiba and Comrade OR
Tambo.
In /RQJ :DON WR )UHHGRP (1994: 90-94), Baba
0DGLEDFRQ¿UPVWKDWIURPWKRVHHDUO\\HDUVRIVWUXJJOH
“:DOWHU¶V KRXVH LQ 2UODQGR ZDV D PHFFD IRU DFWLYLVWV
DQG$1&PHPEHUV”. Madiba says: “It was a warm [and]
ZHOFRPLQJSODFH”. And he goes on to say about Mama
Sisulu that she “was a wise and wonderful presence,
DQGDVWURQJVXSSRUWHURI:DOWHU¶VSROLWLFDOZRUN”.
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3
It is when we look at how they lived their lives, what
they have done for their country, and the high values
that guided and organised their lives, that we come
to appreciate better another special union made in
heaven to bless our shores – that of Oliver Tambo and
Adelaide Tambo.
They dedicated their lives and those of their children
to the most noble cause of all so that we can all one
day enjoy the bountiful fruits of freedom.
We reap from the toil of their labour of love, every
time we go to a democratic election, like the 18 May
Local Government elections we’ve just emerged from.
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democratic processes and practices unfolding within
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RI JHQXLQH ¿JKWHUV IRU IUHHGRP ± WKH OLNHV RI 0DPD
Sisulu.
For this, as women and men of South Africa, we
remain forever indebted to Mama Sisulu and to the
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liberated people, after decades of bitter struggle, united
in our diversity.
We stand proud as the ANCWL – the legitimate
voice of women of this country – to claim Mama
Albertina Sisulu as one of our own. For indeed she
was, by blood and soul.
As the sun rises from the east we are certain as the
ANCWL that her spirit and good deeds will live on. We
take comfort in knowing that her family will take her
work forward, with all of us.
,WLVZLWKFRQ¿GHQFHWKDWZHVD\$IULFDZLOOEHSURXG
to declare that here lies a daughter of the soil whose
entire life she gave to the betterment of all humanity.
And to that we will add that here lies an
unimpeachable role-model who stood for her family and
nation in testing times with a husband and comrades in
prison, on Robben Island, for 27 years.
We are deeply hurt as a movement and a people
for fate has robbed us of a genuine friend, a comrade
to die for, a nation builder, a mother who understood
deeply what the ancient sages of these parts of the
world meant when they said ‘PPHRWVKZDUDWKLSDND
IDERJDOHQJ’.
FRQWLQXHGRQSDJH
T
he life of Mrs Albertina Sisulu is that lived in pursuit
of liberty, universal suffrage, equality before the
law, political and economic emancipation for the
oppressed masses of our people and in particular the
triple oppression of the African woman.
She was one of many very outstanding South
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we would like to remember her as such.
Ma Sisulu drew inspiration from her forbears and
she herself became a luminary that all young soldiers
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She was not only the wife, of one of the Rivonia
trialists who was a national leader of immense stature,
but she was also not the mother of fellow combatants of
MK, sis Lindiwe Sisulu and Bhut” Max Sisulu. She was
a mother to the many young men and women who were
steeped in the environment of unprecedented violent
oppression characterized by murder, displacement,
torture and imprisonment premised on legislation that
sought to kill the spirit of the Black Child.
She fought against pass laws that controlled the
movement of South African in their country. She fought
against the oppression of women on the basis of gender,
class and race. Her battle was against the legalization
of forced removals of landowners with the introduction
of the Group Areas Act that saw the displacement of
many in the country of their birth.
Comrade Albertina Sisulu knew no other life except
that of service to her people.
Many MK cadres can rightly boast that when their
mothers were in labour, Ma Sisulu assisted to deliver
them, and their mothers will attest, that this was done
with utmost professionalism and love. This was when
the nursing profession was fraternized by those who
really believed that rather than this being a profession,
it was literally a calling, in service of the people.
She was a midwife that not only delivered babies,
but a midwife who delivered hope and love to those
whose lives she touched.
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generation that put the values of the African National
&RQJUHVV DERYH HYHU\WKLQJ HOVH 6KH LGHQWL¿HG ZLWK
FRQWLQXHGIURPSDJH ANC Women’s League
Tribute to MaSisulu
To our young, the ANCWL says the best way
to cherish the memory of Mama Sisulu would be by
getting education, using it consciously to build a more
humane, caring and prosperous society. Like many
heroes and heroines of the struggle, she understood
that education is a potent weapon of the struggle of
humans against nature.
This understanding, of education as a prerequisite
for social transformation and development, inspired
this visionary to even run schools from home at the
height of our people’s resistance to bantu education.
The Albertina Sisulu Multi-Purpose Resource Centre
in Orlando West stands as a powerful monument of
her love for education and for all the children of this
country, with their diverse abilities. History will judge us
most harshly if we let it go to ruin.
Through her efforts, as a champion and advocate of
the women’s struggle for equality and full emancipation,
today we have a solid and well-oiled ANCWL whose
strength and agility we have demonstrated forcefully in
recent national (2009) and local government elections
(2011).
We take comfort in knowing that Cde Albertina
Sisulu had a loving family that will always choose the
DQG SHUVRQL¿HG UHVLVWDQFH LQ WKH PRVW KXPDQLVW DQG
disciplined order. A long standing youth leader in her
time, Ma Sisulu is said to have been the only woman
present at the meeting that would see the birth of the
African National Congress Youth League. It is no wonder
that the many generations of the ANC youth continued
to see her as a formidable political role model. From
the streets of Soweto and Tumahole to the military
Camps of Quibaxe and Caculama, in the dormitories
of the Solomon Mahlange Freedom College and the
nursery of the young mothers in exile at the Charlotte
Maxeke to continued to be the Political Leader that all
generations could look up to.
Apart from her upbringing and socialization, Ma
Sisulu was produced by the struggle. Her bravery in
the face of repression was underpinned by her trust
and love for her people.
She had a contract with the people and she lived up
to it to the full. She was a voice of reason everywhere
she went, whether she was engaging her peers or her
subordinates, she was always exemplary.
We would follow her in the news bulletins and news
EULH¿QJVWKDWZHOLVWHQHGWRLQWKHFDPSV6KHDOZD\V
gave us hope not so much on what she said but on
what she did in her time in the Federation of South
African Women and the United Democratic Front.
side of the people just as it stood on the side of our
loving comrade and mother.
To family members of this cherished and respected
ANC veteran we remain grateful and deeply thankful,
for they have shared a rare tower of strength with all
of us.
Certainly, Mama Sisulu will step into the annals
of our rich history as a chronicle of a life lived in the
service of humankind.
Each page of this chronicle of a gentle activist will
and must tell of the modesty of a humble African who
expected no favours and demanded no earthly rewards
nor compensation for what she has done for her country
and people, with endless love and affection.
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the strength behind our freedom in whose honour the
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ELGGLQJLQWKLVPDQQHUDEH¿WWLQJIDUHZHOOWRDJHQXLQH
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Funeral and pride of place in our hearts.
Cde Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu will always be
remembered as a symbol of the struggle in all its
facets, a genuine comrade, a women’s leader, an ANC
OHDGHUD¿JKWHUIRUKXPDQULJKWVDQGGHPRFUDF\DQGD
professional to the core.
Hamba kahle Thole! You shall be sorely missed
by all of us!
4
She was the sort of leader that we yearned for on
all fronts. A leader of courage, love, dedication and
discipline. A leader who led from the front and always
made sure that the rear was in tow.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans
Association representing many generations and
detachments, salutes the true mother of our revolution.
We say to our fellow combatants of uMkhonto weSizwe
comrades Lindiwe and Max, you have every reason to
be proud of where you come from.
We salute your mother, our mother ans she goes to
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Makana, Tambo, Nokwe, Mabhida, Sekhukhune,
Maxeke, First, Nyoni, Seperepere and many other
luminaries of our revolution and the people army
uMkhonto weSizwe.
Hamba kahle – qhawe lama qhawe.
Mama Sisulu - a true
icon of stature
by SANCO
I
t was with great sadness that we received the
news of the passing of Mama Nontsikelelo
Albertina Sisulu, an icon deserving a title of the
“Mother of the Nation”, a true icon of stature.
6$1&2FHOHEUDWHV\RXUVHOÀHVVOLIHZHOOOLYHGLQ
challenging times of and good times of our history.
SANCO joins the world and the country in
expressing our heartfelt condolences to the family
and the many lives you have touched. Huge
in character and principle yet considerate and
disciplined, “o ne o tshware thipa ka bohaleng
kannete”
You were an embodiment of a community
QXUVH DV D VHOÀHVV FLYLF DFWLYLVW GXULQJ WKH GDUN
days of our country. You were our source of
wisdom in deepening our understanding of the
liberation of this country and the need to unite as
a people.
Rest in eternal peace and join other heroes
and heroines that pioneered this democracy that
we are enjoying as South Africans. Heroes are
immortal. You will continue to live in our hearts
through the seeds of reconciliation, freedom,
non-racial and non-sexist society that you have
sown.
SANCO is proud to have served alongside
you in its formative years as a revolutionary civic
organisation.
Lala ngoxolo and May your undying spirit
be with us forever.
AF R
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A
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N
TIONAL CO
NA
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The seed that founded
the ANCYL is in Sisulu’s
Household: Farewell Mama
YO
W
hen the National Working Committee of the ANC
Youth League visited the Sisulu family home on
the 7th of June 2011 to pass condolences, we were
ZHOFRPHG ZLWK WKH ZDUPWK DQG ORYH WKDW LV GH¿QLWLYH
of the Sisulu family. We spent less than an hour at the
Sisulu house; yet the Sisulu family members we met
had created warm conversations with us, which for us
as the Youth in the ANC and a very attentive generation
ZDVVXEVWDQWLDOO\EHQH¿FLDODQGYDOXDEOH:HLQWHUDFWHG
with Comrade Lindiwe Sisulu at the entrance; and
spoke to Cde Mlungisi Sisulu who reminded us he is
the second eldest in the Sisulu family before he took us
through some few critical historical lessons. We then
met with Sheila Sisulu (who introduced herself as a
former Youth Development Practitioner), who took us
WKURXJK WKH YHU\ ¿UVW SURFHVV RI GUDIWLQJ WKH 1DWLRQDO
Youth Policy in South Africa under President Mandela,
and the then debates about what was referred to as the
“lost generation”. The depth of the interaction we had
with her was profound.
We entered the Sisulu house with the help of
Comrade Cheryl Carolus, who is a member of the
Sisulu family as well – her humility gives it away. We
met Cde Max Sisulu who spoke about the launch of
the ANC Youth League and the fact that women were
present, although under under-represented because
“Mama was there”. We then met Nkululeko Sisulu,
South Africa’s Ambassador to Norway, whose humility
is infectious. The family then allowed the delegation of
WKH$1&<RXWK/HDJXHWRRI¿FLDOO\SDVVFRQGROHQFHVWR
the family, and the Secretary General of the ANC Youth
League, Cde Vuyiswa Tulelo did so and applauded the
massive impact the Sisulu family has had on the ANC
and entire National Liberation Movement. We make
PHQWLRQRIWKLVYLVLWEHFDXVHLWUHÀHFWVWKHOHJDF\0DPD
Albertina Sisulu has left for the country, and what we
were exposed to is just a microcosm of the massive
legacy of outstanding leaders, heroes and heroines
that were produced by the Sisulus.
The ANC Youth League is very proud of the massive
by Floyd Shivambu
ANC Youth League Spokesperson
contribution of the Sisulu family because the meetings
that begun to ‘plot’ the formation of the ANC Youth
League in the early 1940s happened in the Sisulu
House in Orlando West, Soweto. It was under the care
of the Sisulu family, when Mxolisi Majombozi, William
Nkomo, Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo,
Anton Lembede begun discussions on radicalisation of
the ANC, and chose the formation of the ANC Youth
League as the best model to radicalise and make the
ANC more courageous, because it was somewhat
legitimising the existence of the colonial system by
sending petitions and deputations to the Colonial
Master in Britain. The seed that founded the ANC Youth
League is therefore planted in the Sisulu household.
The seed of the radicalisation of the ANC, the anti-pass
laws campaigns, the growing militancy of the Women’s
movement is planted in the Sisulu household.
It is therefore not a surprise that “Mama” was
WKH RQO\ IHPDOH GHOHJDWH DW WKH RI¿FLDO ODXQFK RI WKH
ANC Youth League at the Bantu Men Social Centre
in Johannesburg on the 10th of September 1944
under the theme and clarion call of “FREEDOM IN
OUR LIFETIME”. The Sisulu family understood this
clarion call, possibly more than any other family of the
National Liberation Movement. That all the children of
Tata Walter Sisulu and Mama Albertina Sisulu were
surrendered to the struggle for the political, social
and economic emancipation of the black majority
DQG $IULFDQV LQ SDUWLFXODU UHÀHFWV WKH SURIRXQG
commitment of the Sisulus to the struggle for liberation.
All the siblings partook in the struggle of the National
Liberation Movement, and notably Bra Max Sisulu who
was a leader of the Youth Section of the ANC in exile
5
UTH
LEAG
UE
and led the World Federation of Democratic Youth
(WFDY), which is a progressive formation that fought
against apartheid domination. Those who have gone
through the care of the Sisulu family are outstanding
leaders, and the role Mama played should always be
celebrated.
If parenthood is gauged by the kind of children you
nurture, then Mama Albertina Sisulu is the best mother
of the nation, who did not only nurture her biological
FKLOGUHQLQWRFRPPLWWHGIUHHGRP¿JKWHUVEXWQXUWXUHG
many Freedom Fighters and shaped their political
careers and outlook. It is not a secret that President
Nelson Mandela is politically and ideologically a Sisulu
product and currently the world’s most celebrated
Freedom Fighter, who has dedicated his life for the
total emancipation of the black majority and Africans in
particular from political, social and economic bondage.
Behind the great leaders of the Liberation Movement is
a great woman and that woman is Mama Nontsikelelo
Albertina Sisulu.
Now because the seed that founded the ANC Youth
League was planted in Sisulu’s household, we are
proud to say that we are all children of Mama Albertina
Sisulu and we will, through her guidance, continue with
the struggle for total economic freedom in our lifetime.
We have learned from her that there is a very close
relationship between humility and greatness, and we
understand like Tata Walter Sisulu that humility does
not mean that we should be fearful and lack courage.
:HKDYHSLFNHGXSWKHVSHDUDQGZHZLOO¿JKWIHDUOHVVO\
to ensure that the freedoms she fought for and adopted
as a Congress of the People delegate on the 26th of
June 1955 in Kliptown are realised to the fullest. For
WKHVHIUHHGRPVZHZLOO¿JKWVLGHE\VLGHWKURXJKRXW
our lives, until we have won our total economic liberty.
Lala Ngoxolo Mama and You are amongst the last in
the founding generation of the ANC Youth League to
depart, and be rest assured that we will never betray
the struggle for the attainment of all the objectives of
the Freedom Charter.
I
t was Karl Marx that said “If we have chosen the
position in life in which we can most of all work for
mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because
WKH\ DUH VDFUL¿FHV IRU WKH EHQH¿W RI DOO WKHQ ZH
VKDOO H[SHULHQFH QR SHWW\ OLPLWHG VHO¿VK MR\ EXW RXU
happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on
quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will
be shed the hot tears of noble people.” This observation
is certainly true of the life and work of Mama Sisulu,
a cadre who dedicated her entire life to the liberation
of humankind and the banishment of all chains of
bondage, oppression and exploitation.
Let me join the millions of South Africans in
mourning the passing of one of the greatest stalwarts
of the struggle for national liberation and freedom, Ma
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jewels produced in the terrain of the struggle to liberate
our people from the colonial, racist and exploitative
bondages of the apartheid system. This loss is not a
loss only for the Sisulu family but a loss for everyone
with a disdain for oppression and social injustice. My
condolences to her family, friends and the thousand of
lives that she touched and changed over generations.
We have indeed lost one of the greatest and most loved
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Mama Sisulu is the epitome of a person who
dedicated her life to the service of our people. This well
lived life was devoted in its entirety to caring for others,
as a nurse and midwife, struggling to improve the lives
of individuals in a racist environment, as a wife, mother
and grandmother to a family which has produced an
unprecedented number of great political leaders, and
in the broad struggle for national, gender and class
liberation of all South Africans.
In particular she played a pivotal role in the
mobilization of women into the liberation struggle, in
the ANC Women’s League, which she joined in 1948,
and in the founding of the Federation of South African
Women in 1954. She was one of the leaders at the
Congress of the People in 1955 and in the women’s
march to the Union Buildings in 1956 to protest against
pass laws for women.
“Women,” she said in 1987 in Soweto, “are the people
who are going to relieve us from all this oppression
and depression. The rent boycott that is happening in
Soweto now is alive because of the women. It is the
women who are on the street committees, educating
the people to stand up and protect each other.”
She served in many, many positions, including
Deputy President of the Women’s League and she
led the United Democratic Front delegation that went
overseas on an anti-apartheid mission in the late 1980s.
She was also one of the founding trustees of the Labour
Job Creation Trust, set up by the three trade union
federations after the Presidential Jobs Summit in 1998.
She played a major role in the development,
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and the health sector in general, and in the founding of
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Union of South Africa (DENOSA). For this she was
given a trophy at the historic International Nurses
Congress held in Durban in 2009, in recognition of an
outstanding contribution to nursing.
Mama Sisulu’s passing marks the departure of a
generation of exceptional leaders, who represented
all the best values of the ANC and the revolutionary
movement, leaders who never put their own interests
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role model for succeeding generations.
She knew that joining the struggle was inviting arrest,
torture and death for her and her family. Yet for the 25 years
by Zwelinzima Vavi
COSATU General Secretary
when her husband Walter was on Robben Island, she
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She was known as the ‘Mother of the Nation’ for good
reason. She was the best possible example of what
motherhood and caring for a family should mean. A
recent report revealed that nine million South African
children are living without their fathers, who are still
living but taking no responsibility for their offsprings.
Those absent fathers should read the story of the
Sisulu family’s love and care for each other and follow
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Che Guevara, that “the true revolutionary is guided
by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of
a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality... We must
strive every day so that this love of living humanity will
be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve
as examples, as a moving force.”
Mama Sisulu was humble, self-effacing and loyal,
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wrong. We hope that these values will not die with her,
as today we face a new, entirely opposite, culture of
6
individualism and greed. Debates are no longer about
issues of principle but angling for position and business
opportunities.
Today’s leaders have a lot to learn from the
inspirational example of Mama Sisulu and her
generation of leaders. She will be greatly missed but
certainly never forgotten. The is no better way to bid
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Freedom Charter demands and abolish the system
that turns wealth producers into beggars and indolent
humans into billionaires.
The passing of Mama Sisulu marks an immeasurable
loss for the working class in this country and for the
women that she dedicated each of her heartbeats to
emancipating. The words of Frederick Engels on Marx’s
grave are worth repeating when referring to this gallant
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this mighty spirit will soon enough make itself felt.” We
are grateful to you MaSisulu for sparing no effort and
energy in helping the poor, the downtrodden, the
exploited and the oppressed. We thank you for putting
your own momentary happiness aside in service of
millions. Indeed, your deeds will live on quietly but
perpetually at work, and over your ashes shall be shed
the tears of noble people. No one can kill the ideas that
MaSisulu espoused simply because ideas do not die.
Hamba Kahle qhawe la maqhawe.
Mama Sisulu, a shining
light of our struggle
by Blade Nzimande
SACP General Secretary
O
ur country is in national mourning on the passing
away of one of the foremost women revolutionaries in our national liberation struggle, Mama Albertina
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This is one of those rare moments in our country
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one voice. In this case that voice is celebrating the life
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moments, albeit bemoan the fact they seem to come
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many other heroes of our struggle fought for, with some
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such values. This is political opportunism that must be
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their abhorrence of a system that sought to turn the
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own country. It was this type of practical application of
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communities, the objectives of our struggle have yet to
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by Chris Barron
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Sunday Times, 5 June 2011
7
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our struggle, though sometimes they were not properly
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Mama Sisulu was an epitome of humility. To say she
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as one of the heroines of our struggle, Mama never
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life to better the lives of others. Herein lies the most
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particularly the young women, many of whom, for all
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The only real empowerment, through which we can
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never be taken away by anyone. The obsession that
seems to be taking root among some in our structures,
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Hamba kahle Mama. We will always honor and
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pain of so many women who separated from their husbands and had to bring up
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Issued by the African National Congress, 54 Sauer Street, Johannesburg, 2001. Tel: 011 376 1000.