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The South African Communist Party (SACP) pays tribute and honours the revolutionary life of one of South Africa’s liberation stalwarts, Isithalandwe/Seaparankwe Comrade Walter Sisulu, on the 23rd anniversary since he breathed his last on 5 May 2003.

Sisulu distinguished himself in the struggle against colonial and apartheid rule and remains one of the most prominent cadres of our struggle who championed the non-racial and non-sexist character of the anti-apartheid struggle. After joining the ANC in 1940, Sisulu later joined the SACP in 1955 and in 1956 became its Central Committee member. Together with Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, Moses Kotane, and others, Sisulu was a key player in the foundation of the joint SACP-ANC armed military wing, uMkhonto WeSizwe, in December 1961, serving in its High Command.

The Sisulu family was constantly under surveillance from the apartheid regime’s notorious Special Branch. After Sisulu went underground in 1963, the regime invoked its General Laws Amendment Act of 1963, the infamous “90-day Act”, as it empowered the regime to detain activists for 90 days without trial. The regime detained his wife and a revolutionary, Albertina Sisulu, becoming the first woman to be arrested under that law. The regime never let her rest as it continuously harassed and charged her for violating its racially discriminatory laws between 1958 and 1985.

On 12 June 1964, the apartheid regime sentenced Albert Sisulu and seven of his comrades to life imprisonment and incarcerated them on the notorious Robben Island. This followed the Rivonia Trial, in which he was accused No. 2. He served more than 25 years' imprisonment for his anti-apartheid revolutionary activism.

Following national and international pressure piled upon the apartheid regime, the regime was forced to release political prisoners in order to allow a transition to democracy. Accordingly, Sisulu and other Rivonia trialists were released from prison on 15 October 1989.

In July 1991, following his release, Silulu was elected ANC deputy president in the ANC's first national conference since its unbanning the year before. Together with Albertina Sisuly, Walter Sisulu continued to serve the people of South Africa as a teacher and inspiration after our 1994 democratic breakthrough throughout his remaining days.

In paying tribute to Walter Sisulu, the SACP continues to play its revolutionary role to unite the working class in South Africa. In furtherance of these efforts, the SACP is working hard to unite the left forces towards building a popular left front as it builds the powerful socialist movement for the workers and poor. The SACP thus calls for the unity of the working class to take forward the national democratic revolution and the full implementation of the Freedom Charter in the quest for total social emancipation.

Issued by South African Communist Party