A remarkable life

NOW and then, a leader appears on the scene who, in his life-long struggle for a great cause, exemplifies the strength, character and beauty of the human spirit. The world, for example, recognises the unique role which Mahatma Gandhi played in the liberation of India from colonial rule and the contribution of Martin Luther King to the fight for civil rights by Afro-Americans. Nelson Mandela, too, is acclaimed for his unrelenting and eventually successful opposition to apartheid oppression in South Africa.

Walter Sisulu, who died at the age of 90 on Monday, was a hero in that charismatic mould yet, in certain ways, he was something special even in that company. Working through the African National Congress, Sisulu led the struggle against apartheid for most of his adult life and he and his family suffered severely for it. He was imprisoned for 25 years, his wife Albertina spent ten years under house arrest and her movement and speech were restricted from 1964 to 1981. Four of their children spent time in exile or in prison. It was Sisulu who brought Mandela into the ANC and together with Oliver Tambo they formed the ANC Youth League in 1944, stepping up the struggle against the country's system of racial subjugation.

Throughout that turbulent period, when the ANC was outlawed, they risked their lives in organising campaigns of civil disobedience against apartheid laws. Sisulu went underground, joining the ANC's guerilla wing, after he was convicted for furthering the aims of the Congress. He became an exasperating thorn in the side of the Government as he used a secret ANC transmitter to send pirate radio messages exorting the nation to unite to overthrow apartheid. In July 1963 Sisulu was arrested at the UNC's secret headquarters and he and Mandela were convicted of plotting anti-government sabotage. The two were expected to get the death penalty, but were eventually given life sentences as the judges yielded to international agitation on their behalf.

This is just a brief synopsis of Sisulu's stormy and relentless battle against the system that virtually enslaved the vast majority of South Africa's people. What seems to make his remarkable life even more endearing, however, was his genuine humility and selflessness. In spite of the dangers he faced, in spite of the sacrifices he and his familily had to make, Sisulu sought nothing for himself, wanted no acclamation or reward or official position. He never became president of the ANC or a member of the country's post-apartheid parliament although he would have been given much more by a grateful South Africa had he wanted it. While Mandela and Desmond Tutu were given the Nobel Peace Prize for their anti-apartheid struggle, Sisulu was overlooked. He continued, however, to be Mandela's close confidant and to help his beloved ANC prepare to lead the nation.

'We have lost a remarkable man," Mandela told reporters after expressing his condolences at Sisulu's home. "He has not been honoured the way some of us have been honoured, nevertheless he stood head and shoulders above us all. What was the reason for this? Because he had the gift of humility and simplicity." In our view, the world has lost a remarkable man. Sisulu's life will ever remain an inspiration not only to black South Africans but to all those who share his nature as human beings. His courageous and unselfish battle against a great evil will also stand as a reproach to all those so-called leaders who place their own interest, their own welfare, their own self-aggrandisement above the progress and well-being of the people they pretend to serve.