Walter Sisulu was born in 1912. In the 1940s, he met Nelson Mandela and joined the African National Congress (ANC). It was at this time his began to fight for equality for South African people.

On June 12, 1964, Sisulu was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island for planning acts of sabotage. In 1989, Sisulu was released from prison along with six other leaders of the ANC party.

When Walter Sisulu died in 2003, thousands of people attended his funeral in Soweto. Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke at his funeral.

Copyright © ProjectExplorer 2007
Text: Rebecca Marks
Image: Courtesy ANC Archives, www.anc.org.za