Sisulu 'a selfless hero'

2003-05-14 14:59

Cape Town - South African deputy president Jacob Zuma on Wednesday described the late Walter Sisulu as "a selfless hero who gave up his own freedom so that his compatriots could be free".

At a memorial service at the Mother City's Good Hope Centre led by Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, Zuma said: "We feel small in stature to be given a task of paying tribute to this larger than life figure, who makes us proud to be South African."

Sisulu died on Monday May 5 two weeks before his 91st birthday at his Johannesburg home. He had just returned from a medical check-up.

He was jailed for 26 years until 1989 with former South African president Nelson Mandela.

Zuma said Sisulu, secretary-general of the African National Congress in the 1950s, lived through all forms of struggle - passive resistance, militant defiance campaigns, underground struggle, "as well as the final phase of the armed struggle and negotiations leading to the ushering in of democracy in our country ... his movement became a governing party".

He noted he was born in the year of the ANC's founding in 1912.

Opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said: "People join political parties or movements for different reasons. Some join, of course, to improve the world."

"Others may join because of ambition, love of glory, or lust for power. When the party comes to power, they begin to enjoy the fruits of office, the perks and privileges, the sound of their own voices on public platforms and the pleasant tingle of triumph when an opponent is defeated."

"Walter Sisulu was different. He joined the movement against racial injustice for one reason only: to serve the people. Throughout his long struggle, which eventually brought freedom and democracy to South Africa, he never once deviated from this single purpose."

"Neither the heavy blows of the apartheid regime nor the soft caresses of democratic government could divert him from his calm conviction, his quiet reason and his firm devotion to his ideals."

Ndungane said: "It is good that we record how Ntate Walter gave so generously and fearlessly of himself for the well being of humanity and we honour him best by following in his footsteps."

"We add value to a heroic life when we learn from him that to make a difference we don't have to be in positions of power or fame. I wonder if you have noticed that many of the anecdotes now being related about Ntate Walter are about small personal kindnesses like sharing a tube of toothpaste with others on Robben Island?"

"So many tributes have mentioned his humility and his innate courtesy. These are characteristics that do not require wealth, status, power or university degrees. They merely require that we treat our own life and that of others with respect."

- I-Net Bridge (Business)