On this day in history: Walter Sisulu passes away
Who was the man who helped shape our nation?
On 5 May 2003, South Africa saw the passing of a legend, Walter Sisulu. But who was this legend who helped shape the country we are living in today?
Walter Ulyate Sisulu was born on 18 May 1912. He worked as a miner, baker’s assistant, domestic helper and factory hand and later became a political leader many looked up to.
He was an active trade unionist before joining the African National Congress (ANC) in 1940 and immediately demonstrated a talent for leadership and organisation.
Determined that the movement should become more militant, he was instrumental, along with Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, in forming the ANC Youth League in 1944.
He was elected as treasurer, and thereafter rose rapidly through the ranks of the parent body, serving as secretary-general from 1949 to 1954. Sisulu was a key figure in events leading up to the ANC’s acceptance of the ANC Youth League’s Programme of Action in 1949.
He was one of the key figures in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and was banned in terms of the Suppression of Communism Act. He visited communist countries in Eastern Europe, Israel, China and Britain.
He was charged with treason at the Rivonia trials in 1961 and was sent to Robben Island. In October 1989 the South African government released him from prison and in July 1991 he was elected ANC Deputy-President.
Walter Sisulu retired on the eve of South Africa’s first non-racial elections in 1994, and died at his home in Orlando on 5 May 2003.
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