In Memoriam: Albertina Sisulu

There have been moments in history that have defined the way black women have lived and been treated by the governments that oppress them. Today is not the day to remember those grim times. Today is the day to remember an iconic woman who stood for the education and fair treatment of women in her country and her community. Today we will celebrate the life of a woman who was fearless and brave in the face of some really fierce opposition.

In late October of 1918 Monikazi Thethiwe, who had been sick with the spanish flu that had decimated populations around the world, was giving birth to her first baby girl. As Monikazi and Bonilizwe rejoiced and held her in their arms, they could not have known that they were holding someone who would become a major contributor in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Despite facing many obstacles early on, taking care of her mother who had been forever weakened by the flu, caring for her siblings and fighting for a scholastic prize that was rightfully hers, Nontsikelelo worked hard to attend Mariazell college in 1936. By that time she had changed her name to Albertina.

Responsibility towards her family forced her into nursing, though her first love had been teaching. Education and especially the education of women was her passion. She has been quoted as saying,

In the struggle, if people don't know what they are fighting for, it is useless.

During her tenure at a hospital that admitted non-whites, she experienced and witnessed some of the most blatant effects of apartheid at that time when doctors would refuse to attend to African patients and where the youngest most inexperienced white nurses were always superior to the oldest and most experienced black nurses.

Her introduction to politics happened through her husband Walter Sisulu, who she met in 1941 and married in 1944. He was a very active member of the ANC and quit his job to work with the ANC full time alongside his friend and companion, Nelson Mandela.

In 1956 Albertina Sisulu was part of the women's organization that marched in protest against the law that required black women to carry passes. This law was specifically meant to further the ideals of apartheid and segregation. 10,000 women marched in protest, carrying bundles of petitions and placing them at the doorstep of the Prime Minister. They sang a song that has now become the anthem of many women's issues in South Africa,

wathint' abafazi, (When you strike women)
wathint' imbokodo, (you strike a rock)
uza kufa! (you will die)

She was detained for two months by the police who had mounted a search for her husband and had her life and the life of her children threatened. In 1964 her husband had been sentenced to life in prison and for her activities with the ANC had her under house arrest.

Throghout the 60's, 70's and 80's she and her family were in and out of jail, being specifically targeted for their relationship to Walter Sisulu and endured persistent harassment from the government, earning her multiple banning orders refusing her to attend meetings and funerals where she could pass on her ideologies. She sent her children to Swaziland to be educated choosing foreign education rather than subjecting her children to Bantu education instituted by the South African Government.

In 1987 still in the throes of the unprecedented police brutality in Alexandria in 1986, Albertina Sisulu had this to say,

Women are the people who are going to relieve us from all this oppression and depression. The rent boycott that is happening in Soweto now is alive because of the women. It is the women who are on the street committees educating the people to stand up and protect each other.

In 1989 her ban was lifted and her husband was released from prison and they continued the work they had begun more than 40 years prior. Her husband passed away in 2003 in her arms at 90 years old and that same year the Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Center for Africa was opened by her and long time friend Nelson Mandela.

Though her journey through this life came to an end, it cannot be a mourning but a celebration for a life well lived. Througout her life she lived the ideals that she taught, sacrificing greatly for her people and her children and struggling for a better life despite insurmountable odds. Her children and grandchildren who fought the struggle with her, ending up in prison and suffering harassment, carry the legacy of her life with them, as well as the rest of South Africa, extending throughout the World wherever black women still suffer prejudice and oppression.

Thank you for your gift Mama!