Albertina Sisulu

Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu née Thethiwe (21 October 1918 – 2 June 2011) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, and the wife of fellow activist Walter Sisulu (1912–2003). She was affectionately known as "Ma Sisulu" throughout her lifetime by the South African public. In 2004 she was voted 57th in the SABC3's Great South Africans. She died on 2 June 2011 in her home in Linden, Johannesburg, South Africa, aged 92.

Quotes

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 [in the 1980s] 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
- 7 Quotes in Honour of Albertina Sisulu’s 100th Birthday. 22 October 2018

We are each required to walk our own road and then stop, assess what we have learnt, and share it with others. It is only in this way that the next generation can learn from those who have walked before them. We can do no more than tell our story. Then it is up to them to make of it what they will.
- 7 Quotes in Honour of Albertina Sisulu’s 100th Birthday. 22 October 2018

Although politics has given me a rough life, there is absolutely nothing 1 regret about what I have done and what has happened tome and my family throughout all these years. Instead, 1 have been strengthened and feel more of a woman than I would otherwise have felt if my life was different

I knew why the government hated me. It was because I was against apartheid. I was aware that I was the government’s enemy. Nothing could have pleased me more.
- Quoted in South African History Online biography and contemporary interviews.

This is the price I’ve had to pay for freedom. Remember others have paid with their lives.
- Cited in South African press commemorations of her centenary (2018).

I have no doubts that we will be free.
- Interview with Michael Parks, Los Angeles Times (13 July 1986).

Quotes about person/work

She deserves so much credit for the quality of a life of service that Walter led. Her own sacrifice and service deserve as much of our respect and recognition. The naming of this Center after Walter is a tribute to her as well.
- "Address by Nelson Mandela at opening of Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Centre for Africa, Johannesburg."

Among these revolutionary giants was stalwart Albertina Sisulu who played a formative role in the opposition to apartheid and in building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa...we celebrate the centenary anniversary of the life of Mama Sisulu – who took on the mantle of leadership during our darkest hours and remained a selfless servant of the people throughout her life. For her bold role in the fight for freedom, she suffered immensely at the hands of the apartheid regime. She was jailed several times for her political activities and constantly harassed by the apartheid’s security police.
- "Pinky Kekana. Albertina Sisulu honoured. 16 October 2018"

An inspirational leader. An activist. A passionate educator. A philanthropist. A woman, inspired by the idea that one can change the world, the idea that one can change the existing conditions of the people – that all South Africans are treated equal. A champion of the rights and emancipation of women.
- "Saluting the legacy of South African icon, Albertina Sisulu. 17 August 2018."

External links

Wikipedia

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Albertina Sisulu

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