Albertina Sisulu
The University of Johannesburg confers an honorary doctoral degree (Doctor Litterarum et Philosophiae (honoris causa)) on Albertina Sisulu in acknowledgement of her revolutionary role in pre-1994 South Africa.
Born
Nontsikelelo Thethiwe

21 October 1918 (1918-10-21)
Died2 June 2011 (2011-06-03) (aged 92)
Known forAnti-apartheid activist
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1944; died 2003)​
Parent(s)Bonilizwe and Monikazi Thethiwe

Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu OMSG (née Thethiwe; 21 October 1918 – 2 June 2011)[1] was a South African anti-apartheid activist, and the wife of fellow activist Walter Sisulu (1912–2003). She was affectionately known as "Ma Sisulu" throughout her lifetime by the South African public. In 2004 she was voted 57th in the SABC3's Great South Africans. She died on 2 June 2011 in her home in Linden, Johannesburg, South Africa, aged 92.

Early life

Born Nontsikelo Thethiwe in the Tsomo district of the Transkei on 21 October 1918, she was the second of five children of Bonilizwe and Monikazi Thethiwe. Sisulu's mother survived the Spanish Flu, but was constantly ill and very weak because of this. It fell upon Nontsikelelo, as the eldest girl, to take on a motherly role for her younger siblings. She had to stay out of school for long periods of time, which resulted in her being two years older than the rest of her class in her last year of primary school. She adopted the name Albertina when she started her schooling at a Presbyterian mission school.[2]

In 1936, she left for Mariazell College in Matatiele in the Eastern Cape. The school's routine was rigid and strict: pupils were woken up at 4am to bath and clean their dormitories, and would then proceed to the chapel for morning prayers. Although her scholarship covered her board and lodging, she had to pay it back during the school holidays by ploughing the fields and working in the laundry room. Sisulu only went home during the December holidays.

When she finished school in 1939, she decided to become a nurse. She was accepted as a trainee nurse at a Johannesburg "Non-European" hospital called Johannesburg General. After spending Christmas with her family in Xolobe she left for Johannesburg in January 1940.

Education

After being orphaned as a teenager, she was obliged to help provide for her younger brothers and sisters. Abandoning her ambition to train as a teacher, she left the Transkei to train as a nurse at Johannesburg's General Hospital in 1940, as nurses were paid during training. She graduated from Mariazell College in 1939, and chose a career in nursing. Sisulu started work in Johannesburg as a midwife in 1946, often walking to visit patients in townships.

Political career

Sisulu did not display an interest in politics at first, only attending political meetings with Walter in a supporting capacity, but she eventually got involved in politics when she joined the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League in 1948, and took part in the launch of the Freedom Charter the same year. Sisulu was the only woman present at the birth of the ANC Youth League.[3] She became a member of the executive of the Federation of South African Women in 1954.

On 9 August 1956, she joined Helen Joseph and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn in a march of 20,000 women to the Union Buildings of Pretoria in protest against the apartheid government's requirement that women carry passbooks as part of the pass laws.[3] "We said, 'nothing doing'. We are not going to carry passes and never will do so." The day is celebrated in South Africa as National Women's Day. She spent three weeks in jail before being acquitted on the pass charges, with Nelson Mandela as her lawyer. Sisulu opposed Bantu education, running schools from home.

Sisulu was arrested after her husband skipped jail to go underground in 1963, becoming the first woman to be arrested under the General Laws Amendment Act of 1963 enacted in May. The act gave the police the power to hold suspects in detention for 90 days without charging them. Sisulu was placed in solitary confinement for almost two months until 6 August.[4]

She was subsequently in and out of jail for her political activities, but she continued to resist against apartheid, despite being banned for most of the 1960s. She was also a co-president of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the 1980s.[5]

From 1984 until his murder in 1989, she worked for Soweto doctor, Abu Baker Asvat, who allowed her to continue with her political activities while employed by him, and she was present when he was murdered. Sisulu regarded her relationship as being that of a "mother and a son", and the two never allowed the rivalry between the UDF, and Azapo, of which Asvat was the Health Secretary, and a founding member, to interfere with their friendship or working relationship.[6]

In 1986, she received the honorary citizenship of Reggio nell′Emilia (Italy). In 1989, she managed to obtain a passport and led a UDF delegation overseas, meeting British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and United States president George HW Bush. In London, she addressed a major anti-apartheid rally to protest against the visit of National Party leader FW de Klerk.

In 1994, she was elected to the first democratic Parliament, in which she served until retiring four years later.[3] At the first meeting of this parliament, she had the honour of nominating Nelson Mandela as President of the Republic of South Africa. That year she received an award from then-president Mandela.

Community work

For more than 50 years, Sisulu committed herself to The Albertina Sisulu Foundation, which works to improve the lives of small children and old people. She was honoured for her commitment to the anti-apartheid struggle and her social work when the World Peace Council, based in Basel, Switzerland, elected her president from 1993 to 1996. She recruited nurses to go to Tanzania, to replace British nurses who left after Tanzanian independence. The South African nurses had to be "smuggled" out of SA into Botswana and from there they flew to Tanzania.

The Albertina Sisulu Multipurpose Resource Centre/ASC, named after Albertina Sisulu, was also found by Sisulu. It was found under the auspices of the Albertina Sisulu Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that was established by the Sisulu Family. Weeks later, she and Mandela opened the Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Centre for Africa in Johannesburg, named for her late husband. She became a trustee for the centre and helped fundraise for it.

Sisulu and her family were residents of Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa, when it was established. Mrs. Sisulu has witnessed first-hand the development of the community where the Sisulu family lived, sorely lacking in social services and despite enormous obstacles, has committed herself to alleviating the hardships of the community. The Albertina Sisulu Multipurpose Resource Centre/ASC provides the following services:

  • A school for children with special needs –severe/moderate intellectual challenge – resource school
  • An Early Childhood Development Centre for learners from the age of three years
  • A section for the out of school youth with disabilities established with an intention to provide them with skills which would render them employable and active participants in the country's economy
  • A nutrition programme for the needy earners
  • A multi-purpose community hall
  • An outreach program

Controversy

In 1997, she was called before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established to help South Africans confront and forgive their brutal history. Sisulu testified before the commission about the Mandela United Football Club, a gang linked to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, accused of terrorizing Soweto in the 1980s. She was accused of trying to protect Madikizela-Mandela during the hearings, but her testimony was stark.

She said she believed the Mandela United Football Club burned down her house because she pulled some of her young relatives out of the gang. She also testified about hearing the shot that killed her colleague, a Soweto doctor whose murder has been linked to the group. Sisulu, a nurse at the doctor's clinic, said they had a "mother and son" relationship.

Personal life

Sisulu first met Walter Sisulu in 1941 while working at Johannesburg General Hospital; at that time he was a young political activist. They married in 1944. The Sisulus – an estate agent and a nurse – married in 1944 at a ceremony in which Nelson Mandela was the best man. Also present were Anton Lembede and Evelyn Mase.[7] The couple had five children, Max Vuyisile, Zwelakhe, Mlungisi, Lindiwe and Nonkululeko, and adopted four others including Samuel, a political activist, and Beryl.[8]

Walter and Albertina Sisulu wedding with Nelson Mandela and Anton Lembede. Lembede died in 1947. Evelyn Mase is to the left of the bride and Lembede is to the right of the bride. Nelson Mandela is far left. Rosabella Sisulu looks out over the couple.[7]

Walter was found guilty of high treason and sabotage, but was spared the death sentence. He instead spent 25 years in custody on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, whom he had brought into the ANC. While her husband was on Robben Island, Sisulu raised the couple's five children alone. She spent months in jail herself and had her movements restricted.

Sisulu scraped and saved for her children to attend good schools in Swaziland outside the inferior Bantu Education System. Several of the Sisulu children have themselves become leaders in the democratic South Africa. Max Sisulu is the speaker in the National Assembly; Mlungisi Sisulu is President of the Walter Sisulu Pediatric Cardiac Foundation and Chairman of Arup Africa. Beryl Sisulu is South Africa's ambassador in Norway; Lindiwe was from 2009 to 2012 the minister of defence; Zwelakhe (who died on 4 October 2012), was a businessman; and daughter-in-law Elinor Sisulu, married to Max, is an author and human rights activist.

In 2000, the family announced that their adopted son, Gerald Lockman, had died of AIDS. Walter died in May 2003 at the age of 90.

Death

Sisulu died suddenly in her home in Linden, Johannesburg at age 92 on the evening of 2 June 2011, while watching television with her grandchildren. According to news reports, she suddenly fell ill, coughing blood, and paramedics who rushed to the scene were unable to revive her. At the time of her death, Sisulu was survived by five children, Max, Mlungisi, Zwelakhe, Lindiwe and Nonkululeko, her adopted niece and nephew, Gerald and Beryl, and 26 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her family expressed their sorrow at her death, but said that it comforted them to know that she and her beloved husband of 59 years were no doubt together again.

President Jacob Zuma paid tribute to Sisulu in the wake of her death saying "Mama Sisulu has, over the decades, been a pillar of strength not only for the Sisulu family but also the entire liberation movement, as she reared, counselled, nursed and educated most of the leaders and founders of the democratic SA", Zuma said.[9] He also announced that Sisulu would receive a state funeral, and that national flags would be flown half-mast from 4 June until the day of her burial.[10]

Honours

Road named before her

In 2013, the section of the R24 route in Gauteng, from OR Tambo International Airport in Ekurhuleni, through Johannesburg and Roodepoort, to Krugersdorp East (every street making up this section) was named after Albertina Sisulu. The freeway section of the R24 is named the Albertina Sisulu Freeway while the non-freeway section of the R24 is named Albertina Sisulu Road.[11][12] The only exception is in the one-way-street sections of Johannesburg and Roodepoort, where only one street has been renamed Albertina Sisulu Road while the other street pointing the opposite direction hasn't had its name changed.

Also, the section of the R21 e-toll highway in Gauteng from OR Tambo International Airport in Ekurhuleni to its interchange with the N1 highway in Pretoria is commonly called the Albertina Sisulu Freeway (labelled on road signage), indicating that the R21 from Pretoria to the airport and the R24 from there to Bedfordview are together known as the Albertina Sisulu Freeway.[11]

While the section of the R24 which is not a freeway was named Albertina Sisulu Road in 2013, the freeway section of the R24, together with the R21 freeway to Pretoria, were already named the Albertina Sisulu Freeway by the time of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[13]

Pedestrian and cyclist bridge named after her

On 23 October 2014, the city council of the City of Ghent (East Flanders, Belgium) decided to name its new pedestrian and cyclist bridge over the river Scheldt as "Albertina Sisulubrug" (Albertina Sisulu Bridge), in honour of Albertina Sisulu.[14] The bridge links the new city library, called the Krook ("Krook" being the old Dutch word for a bend in the river), at the Miriam Makebaplein (Miriam Makeba Square) to the Kuiperskaai.

References

  1. ↑ Barry Bearak (5 June 2011). "Albertina Sisulu, Who Helped Lead Apartheid Fight, Dies at 92". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 Bell, Jo (2021). On this day she : putting women back into history, one day at a time. Tania Hershman, Ailsa Holland. London. p. 282. ISBN 978-1-78946-271-5. OCLC 1250378425.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ↑ Elinor Sisulu (2003). Walter & Albertina Sisulu: in our lifetime. New Africa Books. p. 231. ISBN 0-86486-639-9.
  5. ↑ "Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  6. ↑ michelle (25 May 2012). "Dr. Abu Baker Asvat".
  7. 1 2 Sisulu, Elinor (10 June 2011). "Tribute: Life, love and times of the Sisulus". The New Age. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  8. ↑ "Female ambassadors luncheon" (PDF). saemboslo.no.
  9. ↑ "Home – BDlive". Business Day Live.
  10. ↑ "SA mourns anti-apartheid icon 'Ma' Sisulu". The Namibian. NAMPA. 6 June 2011. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.
  11. 1 2 "Gauteng to rename R21/R24 road to Albertina Sisulu Drive, 30 Aug". South African Government. 28 August 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  12. ↑ "Ma Sisulu's name to be on 18 Joburg streets | IOL News". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  13. ↑ "Opening of lanes on the Albertina Sisulu Freeway (R21) from the OR Tambo Airport". www.nra.co.za. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  14. ↑ Stad Gent Gemeenteraad-Besluit, Vergadering van 23 oktober 2014
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