[Sticks]

Anti-apartheid campaigner Walter Sisulu, an ally and close friend of former South african president Nelson Mandela, has died.

Mr Sisulu passed away aged 90 after a long period of ill health, a statement said .


More details on the BBC News site

[Romantic Old Bird]

I don't often join in with Sticks on the obituary trail, but I do think the passing of this man warrants some comment.

Perhaps he didn't have the high international public profile that Nelson Mandela did, but he is an equal partner with his friend in the anti-apartheid movement and the formation of a new South Africa.

This beautiful country, which I was fortunate enough to visit in 1996, is still not perfect, but the change is more than we could have dreamed of 30 years ago. The people owe a lot to this man.

This is the obituary from the Guardian.

Mungo Soggott in Johannesburg
Tuesday May 6, 2003
The Guardian

Walter Sisulu, a veteran of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, died last night. He was 90.
Mr Sisulu, who like his long-time friend Nelson Mandela spent more than 25 years in jail, died after suffering from a long illness.

"His absence has carved a void. A part of me is gone," Mr Mandela said in a statement.

A diminutive man from humble origins, Mr Sisulu was instrumental in encouraging active struggle against apartheid. "Together we shared ideas, forged common commitments," Mr Mandela said. "We walked side by side through the valley of death, nursing each other's bruises, holding each other up when our steps faltered. Together we savoured the taste of freedom.

"In a sense I feel cheated by Walter. If there be another life beyond this physical world I would have loved to be there first so that I could welcome him. Life has determined otherwise.

"I shall miss his friendship and counsel," added Mr Mandela. "Till we meet again."

Like Mr Mandela, he was sentenced to life in prison in 1964 for plotting sabotage and revolution and detained on Robben Island until the apartheid regime finally relented and released him in 1989.

He was elected deputy president of the African National Congress's in 1991, a position he held until after South Africa's first democratic election in 1994.

Born in Transkei in 1912, the same year that the ANC was founded, Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu left home at 15 to seek manual work in Johannesburg to support his family.

He joined the ANC in 1940 and along with Mr Mandela and Oliver Tambo founded its Youth League in 1944.

Once the National Party had gained power in 1948 and started its racist crackdown on black South Africans, Mr Sisulu led the wing of the party advocating a more active struggle.

Under Sisulu, Tambo and Mandela's leadership the ANC began sponsoring non-violent protests, strikes, boycotts, and marches, in the process becoming a target of police harassment and arrest.

Sisulu's activism saw him join the ranks of the ANC's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation).

He was one of the accused in the 1956-61 Treason Trial, and in 1960, during a state of emergency, he was detained without trial. He was arrested six times in 1962 and after going underground a year later was finally arrested in July 1963.

At the 1964 Rivonia Trial, he was the main defence witness and was subjected to a fierce attack from the prosecutor, Percy Yutar.

Sisulu told him: "I wish you were an African. Then you would know..."

On Robben Island, a sandy islet in cold, shark-infested waters off Cape Town, Mr Sisulu, Mr Mandela and their cohorts consistently refused to renounce the use of violence to overthrow the white-minority regime.

The government was concerned that they would become martyrs like the murdered "black consciousness" leader Steve Biko if they died in prison.

"We were united as prisoners. And we were determined to unite South Africa. That sustained us," Sisulu said during a 1995 return visit to Robben Island.

While Mr Mandela became the public face of resistance and the nation's first black president, Mr Sisulu remained the quiet strategist.

"Sisulu stands head and shoulders above all of us in South Africa," Mr Mandela told a group of South African children recently. "You will ask what is the reason for his elevated status among us. Very simple, it is humility. It is simplicity. Because he pushed all of us forward and remained quietly in the background."

Sisulu married Albertina, a nurse, in 1944 and she became a prominent anti-apartheid activist in her own right while her husband was imprisoned. Her own movements and speech were restricted until 1981 and she spent 10 years under house arrest. Four of their five children have spent time in exile or in prison.

[peachy]

A truly great man, who played a great part in changing a vile regime. Sleep easy, for a job well done.

[Sticks]

If you can have appropriate music for the news, it would have to be this (1.3Mb)

See here for the lyrics

It has indeed been a sad day as another great man passes away into history.