Walter Sisulu, Anti-Apartheid Leader
Anti-Apartheid Leader

Walter Sisulu

Born 18 May 1912 · South Africa — Died 5 May 2003

Co-organizing the 1952 Defiance Campaign against apartheid in South Africa.

Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), he was Accused No.2 in the Rivonia Trial and was incarcerated on Robben Island where he served more than 25 years' imprisonment for his anti-Apartheid revolutionary activism. He had a close partnership with Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, with whom he played a key role in organising the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the establishment of the ANC Youth League and Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was also on the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.

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A detail that
surprised us

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Walter Sisulu’s father, Albert Victor Dickinson, was a white civil servant whom Sisulu reportedly met only once, yet Sisulu identified strongly as Xhosa and black throughout his life.

The Story

1
In 1939, Walter Sisulu founded Sitha Investments in Johannesburg, the only black-owned real estate agency then, aiming to help black and Indian people buy houses amidst rising segregation laws.
2
🌍 By 1940, Sisulu joined the ANC and quickly became a central figure, introducing a young Nelson Mandela to the organization and supporting him financially and socially, including arranging Mandela's job as a law clerk.
3In 1949, Sisulu became ANC Secretary-General, displacing older leaders and steering the party toward the militant Program of Action adopted that year, transforming ANC into a mass-based liberation movement.
4⛓️ Arrested in 1963 at a Rivonia hideout with 14 others, Sisulu was labeled Accused No. 2 in the Rivonia Trial and sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island, where he served over 25 years.

🏅 Awards & Honours

—
Padma Vibhushan

🔍 One thing most people don't know

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In 1939, Sisulu started Sitha Investments, the only black-owned real estate agency in South Africa at the time, operating from Johannesburg’s Barclay Arcade and helping black and Indian clients buy property under restrictive laws.

🖼️

Through the Years

2 photographs from the archives
Walter Sisulu at his wedding with Albertina Sisulu alongside Nelson Mandela and Anton Lembede (1944).
Walter Sisulu at his wedding with Albertina Sisulu alongside Nelson Mandela and Anton Lembede (1944).
1944
Walter Sisulu among defendants during the 1956 Treason Trial in South Africa (1956).

🗓️ A Life in Moments

🕊️
Birth
Birth in Ngcobo, Transkei
Walter Sisulu was born in Ngcobo, Eastern Cape, to a Xhosa mother and a white father, setting the stage for his complex identity amid apartheid South Africa.
1912
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Career
Founded Sitha Investments real estate
Sisulu launched a pioneering black-owned real estate firm in Johannesburg to assist black and Indian people in buying homes during increasing racial segregation.
1939
⚡
Career
Joined African National Congress
Sisulu became a member of the ANC, rapidly becoming a key organizer and meeting Nelson Mandela, whom he mentored and supported.
1940
⚡
Career
Elected ANC Secretary-General
Sisulu displaced older leaders to become Secretary-General and spearheaded the adoption of the militant Program of Action, reshaping the ANC.
1949
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Career
Sentenced in Rivonia Trial
Sisulu was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Robben Island, marking the start of over 25 years behind bars for anti-apartheid activism.
1964
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Career
Released from Robben Island
After 26 years in prison, Sisulu was freed and rejoined the ANC leadership during South Africa’s critical transition period.
1989
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Career
Elected ANC Deputy President
Sisulu returned to frontline politics as ANC Deputy President, helping guide the organization as apartheid ended.
1991
🕊️
Death
Death in Soweto
Walter Sisulu died in Soweto shortly before his 91st birthday, leaving behind a legacy intertwined with South Africa’s struggle for freedom.
2003
More moments to come...
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🗝️Discoveries

Swipe to uncover hidden stories
01 / 04
👤PERSONAL

Sisulu was fired from a bakery job early in his life for trying to organize his co-workers into a union, showing his activism roots began in labor rights before ANC leadership.

02 / 04
👤PERSONAL

Although born to a white father and a Xhosa mother, Sisulu strongly identified as black and was initiated into the Xhosa culture by his uncle, a village leader, underscoring his cultural allegiance despite apartheid’s racial classifications.

03 / 04
🌍HISTORICAL IMPACT

During the Rivonia Trial in 1964, Sisulu was designated Accused No. 2 and sentenced to life imprisonment, spending over 25 years on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela and other leaders.

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"I had no hesitation, the moment I met him, that this is the man I need" (on Nelson Mandela).

— Walter Sisulu

🌱 What changed because of them

Walter Sisulu’s strategic leadership helped transform the ANC into a mass movement, laying the groundwork for multiracial alliances that eventually ended apartheid. His role in founding Umkhonto we Sizwe marked the ANC’s shift to armed resistance, influencing liberation strategies. Post-apartheid, his leadership during the critical transition period helped establish the ANC as South Africa’s ruling party.

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