ALBERTINA SISULU, a visionary activist & humble servant of the people

40pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Lenasia, (2019)

Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu (1918 - 2011) was a nurse, prominent anti-apartheid activist. She was married to Rivonia trialist Walter Sisulu, Former Secretary-General and Deputy President of the ANC who spent more than 25 years on Robben Island

In 1948 she joined the ANC Women’s League and was a founding member of the national executive of the Federation of South African Women. She helped organise and participated in the 1956 Women's March, spent six weeks in jail in 1958, was the first woman to be detained under the 90-Day Detention Law, and was served with the first of a series of banning orders in 1964. She was banned for 18 years. In 1983 she was charged with furthering the aims of the ANC and sentenced to four years imprisonment. While in jail she was elected Co-president of the United Democratic Front.

When the ANC was unbanned in 1990 Sisulu worked on a committee that re-established the ANC Women's League., and was elected Deputy President. She was also elected to the ANC’s national executive and in 1994 was elected to South Africa's first democratically elected Parliament. After serving for four years she retired from political life in 1999.