Walter Max Ulyate SISULU

Background

SISULU, Walter Max Ulyate was born on May 18, 1912 in Transkei.

Education

Mission School, Transkei.

Career

Joined African National Congress 1940, becoming Secretary-General. F., Treasure African National Congress Youth League. Organization Defiance Campaign 1952.

Banned from attending public meetings 1952.

Arrested December 1956, charged with treason, acquitted March 1961, arrested November 1962 for breach of house-arrest provisions, sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for incitement to strike March 1963, freed on bail pending appeal. Escaped to Botswana, rearrested July 1963, sentenced to life imprisonment, Rivonia Trial June 1964, released October 1989.

Achievements

• Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was one of the most important leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa.
  
  In the 1940 he was a founder of the Congress Youth League, which led the ANC into militant resistance to apartheid. He became general secretary of the ANC and a chief strategist and organizer of the Defiance Campaign in the 1950. Although a political prisoner for many years, he remained influential and instrumental in the ultimate end to apartheid.
  
  In January 1992, Sisulu, along with colleagues Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, received Isitwalandwe Medals on the 80th anniversary of the ANC Bloemfontein.
  
  In 1994 Sisulu returned to Robben Island where he had been imprisoned for over 20 years, to star in a film on the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa (IDAF).
  
  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.
  
  The Walter Sisulu National Botanic Garden, Walter Sisulu University and Walter Sisulu Local Municipality are named after him.

Works

• book

  • I Will Go Singing

    (Walter Sisulu speakes of his life & the struggle for free...)

  • The road to liberation (TB Davie memorial lecture)
  • I will go singing : Walter Sisulu speaks of his life and the struggle for freedom in South Africa

Connections

Wife:

Albertina

She was harassed by South African authorities for their activism in support of political and economic freedom.

Friend:

Nelson R. Mandela,

References

• Walter And Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime
• Der lange Weg zur Freiheit: Autobiographie (German Edition)
• The Spiritual Mandela
• Speeches that Shaped South Africa: From Malan to Malema
• Reflections in Prison (Robben Island Memories Series)
• Walter Sisulu: A life as reported by Times Media
• Walter & Albertina Sisulu
• Mandela: Echoes of an Era
• Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime by Elinor Sisulu (2003-11-06)