Born on May 18, 1912 at Engcobo in the Transkei, of peasant origin, Walter Sisulu's formal schooling ended at the age of fifteen in standard four. Then he became a mineworker in Johannesburg, working a mile underground in arduous and dangerous conditions each night sleeping on wooden boards alongside the cruelly exploited miners in the grim barracks in one of the Reef compounds. His next job was in East London as a "kitchen boy". Then back to Johannesburg to work in a bakery for a miserable 18 shillings a week.
Having picked up some information about trade unions he led the workers on strike for higher wages. The strike was defeated and he was sacked. He went through a succession of factory jobs and clashed repeatedly with white bosses and his relief became a delving back into Xhosa history and writing articles about national heroes for the African press. As he went from job to job he studied for his senior school standard.
Sisulu joined the ANC in 1940, the same year that A.B. Xuma, also from Engcobo, assumed the position of President General of the ANC. In 1944 together with O.R. Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Anton Lembede etc. founded the ANC youth league and became its first national secretary. In 1949 he was elected the first full-time Secretary-General of the ANC. When Walter first took on the complex job of Secretary-General of the ANC he brought natural gifts, a deep political seriousness from a life of struggle as a youth, an unconcern with the usual status symbols of educational and social success - for he had none and learned that other qualities were more important — and a steel nerve for crisis situations.
As the ANC grew after the great African miners, strike of 1946, Walter grew too.
His political experience in the struggle against tyrannical white minority supremacist dictatorship taught him that simple nationalist slogans were inadequate; that behind the great repressive state in South Africa was a ruling class based on complex forms of class and colour exploitation, each supplementing the other to oppress the African as a worker, peasant or human being.
Walter Sisulu began to study and write, to plan mass campaigns and to formulate strategies. He was a leader of the Defiance Campaign in 1952 and together with Nanabhai (Nana Sita) President of the Transvaal Indian Congress led the first batch of African, Coloured and Indian defiers in breaking the law of entering Boksburg Location without a permit. The defiers led by Walter and Nanabhai, sang and shouted slogans. This had an electric effect on the residents.
Word seemed to have reached the inmates of "Blue Sky" prison in Boksburg about the Defiance Campaign so that when the defiers arrived at the prison the inmates gave the Congress volunteers a rousing reception. They sang freedom songs until the early hours of the morning.
The following day a furious superintendent arrived to give the prisoners a "dressing down" for upsetting his prison. Walter fearlessly stepped forward and announced he was the leader of the resisters and before he could continue any further, the superintendent ordered Walter removed and put into solitary confinement which lasted for three weeks.
In 1953, Walter Sisulu was the guest of the World Federation of Democratic Youth to its third World Youth Festival in Bucharest, Rumania. Included in the delegation of South Africans were several who left illegally amongst whom were Duma Nokwe, Alfred Hutchinson, Henry 'Squire" Makgothi, Paul Joseph etc.
Walter was most impressed with what he saw in the socialist countries, the highlight of which was his visit to the Soviet Union. Being of working class origin and a member of the most oppressed nationality, the Soviet visit was an unforgettable experience. He then saw the progress of the working people. Here he was meeting people of different nationalities who were once oppressed by Tsarist rule. He was invited to speak over Radio Moscow.
In the meantime at a rally in Johannesburg to mark the 36th anniversary of the October Revolution, Ahmed Kathrada made the announcement that Walter Sisulu and his colleagues were in Moscow celebrating the November 7, anniversary. The announcement caused a sensation to the packed Trades Hall and much annoyance to the Special Branch.
On his way back Walter stopped over in London where he immediately set about meeting political leaders, both British and from other parts of Africa. He addressed a rally on South Africa in the Holborn Town Hall.
On his return to South Africa he was enthusiastically received by a series of receptions and report-back meetings called by the South African Society for Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union. Heavily armed police raided these meetings and made arrests.
Later Walter and his colleagues recorded their impressions in a publication called "South Africans in the Soviet Union" edited by Ruth First of which thousands of copies found their way throughout the country. The police made a point of confiscating and destroying this publication as was shown when they went on an orgy, smashing the literature stall at the Congress of the People.
Walter was one of the accused in the Treason Trial in 1956. In 1960, during the State of Emergency, he was detained without trial. The next year he faced prosecution twice. Sisulu was arrested six times in 1962 and placed under 13 hour house arrest on October 26 and under 24 hour house arrest on April 3, 1963.
Pending an appeal against a six year sentence, Walter forfeited bail of R6,000 on April 19 1963, and went underground. The next time the nation heard from Walter was when he spoke on our underground Radio Freedom on June 26, 1963 assuring the people that Umkhonto we Sizwe had decided to fight on an "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth" basis.
On 11 July 1963, Walter Sisulu we. arrested and detained under the 90 day law. At the Rivonia Trial, Sisulu was the main defence witness and was subjected to fierce attack from the prosecutor, Percy Yutar. Sisulu told him: "I wish you were an African. Then you would know..."
An observer at the Rivonia Trial characterises Sisulu's performance in the following words:
"Once Sisulu had taken the measure of the prosecution, it was as if he forgot he was in the witness box. It must have been eleven years since he had last appeared on a public platform and now again he dominated the situation".
He was charged with sabotage and other offences in the Rivonia Trial and on 14 June 1964 he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island.
Walter Sisulu is a man of tremendous integrity, which made his communication with people of different political views very easy. He enjoyed a very high standing with our people of all nationalities and ethnic groups who not only loved him but sheltered and protected him from police persecution at great risks to themselves. The man's dignity, warmth and dedication have made him one of the most esteemed leaders. From all accounts his status remains much the same on Robben Island and in the country.
Walter Sisulu's outstanding contribution is also due to the sacrifices of his wife, Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu —a brave, militant comrade who throughout these difficult years, has acted like a rock of ages.
We demand Sisulu's unconditional release and that of an political prisoners in South Africa.
Sechaba, April 1981