RIP “Mama Sisulu”: One of South Africa’s ‘Greatest Stalwarts’

Albertina 'Mama' Sisulu (21 October 1918 - 2 June 2011): A South African anti-apartheid hero

The saying that ‘behind every successful man, there is a woman’ has been exemplified time and time against in South Africa during the struggle against Apartheid. Such was the case of Albertina Sisulu, a “colossus” of strength for her late husband Walter Sisulu against the Apartheid regime. Mama Sisulu’s late husband Walter has was a mentor to one of the world’s most influential fighters and leaders, Nelson Mandela.

Born Albertina Notsikelelo, Mama Sisulu married Walter in 1944 and she stood by him through the thick and thin. After his passing in 2033, she said that they “were like two chickens. One always walking behind the other.” Walter, former deputy president of the African National Congres (ANC), has been credited for bringing Nelson Mandela into the party. The fact that her husband was imprisoned eight times, banned, placed under house arrest, tried twice for treason, then jailed for life in 1964, and sent to Robben Island where he spent 25 years alongside Mandela, never deterred Mama Sisulu from her love for her husband and nation. Although their struggle against the Apartheid regime meant that Walter and Albertina would only spend 15 normal years together before his passing in 2003, she never lost her love and admiration for her husband.

In addition to having to raise 5 children mostly by herself, Mama Sisulu also played a pivotal role in the struggle and the later formation of the new South African state after Apartheid. She campaigned for the rights of women and children and was a leader of the United Democratic Front, a vital anti-apartheid coalition in the 1980s, and also a leader in the ANC and its women’s league. Her other accomplishments include service in parliament for 4 year after the first multiracial elections in 1994. She also nominated Mandela as president and after which he was unanimously elected by MPs.

The entire nation of South Africa is morning after Mama Sisulu’s passing. President Zuma declared that she was “A matriarch and a nurse by profession, Mama Sisulu was one of the foremost mothers of the nation and the last of the colossuses of the struggle for the liberation of South Africa…. While we mourn her loss, we must thank her most profoundly for the selfless service to all South Africans and humanity at large, for her generosity of spirit and for teaching the nation humility, respect for human dignity and compassion for the weak, the poor and the downtrodden.”

The Nelson Mandela Foundation on behalf of the president also noted that Mama Sisulu was “A stalwart in our freedom struggle and in the early years of our new democracy and a pillar of strength for the Sisulu family when her husband Walter was in jail, she served as an example of selflessness and service.”

While many will miss the love, dedication and life Mama Sisulu devoted to her family and beloved country, she will forever live as an example of the power of a generous spirit, sacrifice and strength.