Soweto, South Africa — The 'quiet giant of the South African liberation struggle against apartheid, Walter Sisulu, was laid to rest at Croesus Cemetery near Soweto, Saturday, in the same way he lived his life - with quiet dignity and honour.
Earlier, thousands of mourners gathered at Orlando Stadium in Soweto to pay their last respects to Sisulu. In a dignified, emotional and nostalgic ceremony, tinged with grief and sadness, South Africans bid "hamba kahle" ("go well") to one of their countrys foremost anti-apartheid heroes in a special funeral, witnessed by his grieving widow Albertina, 84, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as close friend and former jailmate Nelson Mandela.
Sisulus death at home on May 5, two weeks short of his 91st birthday, leaves Mandela as the sole survivor of a core, oldest generation of South African freedom fighters who fought to end white minority rule in their country.
They spent more than a quarter of a century in prison. Albertina Sisulu, an anti-apartheid activist in her own right, was left to bring up the couples natural and adopted children during her husbands long imprisonment and absence from the family home.
One of the younger female members of the Sisulu family delivered the widows tribute - a love letter - which read, in part, "What do I do now without you, Walter? You for whom I woke up every morning; you for whom I lived! The first time you were taken away from me, by the evils of the past, I was kept alive by the knowledge that we would one day overcome and our efforts would bring you back in my arms. We were victorious and indeed you came back. But now the cruel hand of death has truly taken you for good. You have left an empty void in my heart and a pain so deep. I will sorely miss you, my beloved. Your wife, Tinie."
Looking frail, vulnerable and full of grief, a visibly shaken Mandela also paid emotional homage to Sisulu, his friend of six decades. Mandela fondly called Sisulu "the patient one". In his glowing and heartfelt tribute, South Africas first black president said of his fellow ANC comrade, "from the moment when we first met, he has been my friend, my brother, my keeper, my comrade."
Sisulu took Mandela under his wing and recruited the young man, seven years his junior, into the African National Congress (ANC), now South Africa's governing party. After the Rivonia Treason Trial of the early 1960s, they spent years together in prison on Robben Island and later in Pollsmoor. "All prisoners saw Xhamela (Sisulus clan name) as the leader of all of us. He never asked of others what he was not prepared to do himself," Mandela said.
Sisulus "greatness as a leader derived in his humility," said Mandela. He was always "a unifier, never a divider," continued Mandelas eulogy. "The spear of the nation has fallen. Let us pick up the spear to build a country after the example that Walter Sisulu has set for us."
African leaders also attended the funeral, ranging from serving Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mozambiques Joaquim Chissano, the Malawian leader Bakili Muluzi and the Prime Minister of Lesotho, Mosilili Pakalitha, to former heads of state Ghanas Jerry John Rawlings and Zambian veteran Kenneth Kaunda, his eyes red from weeping.
Kaunda was in the vanguard of the support given to the fight against apartheid by the former frontline states and his capital, Lusaka, played host to the ANC headquarters in exile.
Under a bright but wintry blue sky, mourners of all ages sang liberation songs, in a stadium made colourful with the ANCs black, green and yellow colours. The rich voices of choristers rang out as they sang hymns and tributes to Xhamela. At one point, Mandela rose to dance, lifting a clenched fist and smiling as he gently rocked back and forth in his trademark 'Madiba shuffle', prompting tumultuous applause and smiles all round.
The man who succeeded Mandela, current South African president Thabo Mbeki, reminded everyone of Sisulus integrity, honesty and unflinching self-discipline, praised repeatedly during memorials to mark the passing of the ANC veteran.
Mbeki called Sisulu "a patriot who could never be bought or corrupted, or forced by fear or fashion or love of material things, to auction his soul." All speakers described Sisulu as the quiet, gentle and humble giant of the revolution, the popular hero who shunned publicity but was "the engine of the ANC."
Rather than a full state funeral reserved for past and present heads of state, Sisulu was accorded a 'special official ceremony'. After the first non-racial elections in South Africa, leading to Mandelas inauguration in 1994, Sisulu retired from politics and never took up high office, though he remained an active ANC stalwart till his death.
In his tribute, retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu, another anti-apartheid veteran, called Sisulu "heroically humble". Tutu said it was ironic that a man who was considered "public enemy No.2" during the apartheid era, was now being mourned so fulsomely.
Tutu said Sisulu had "refused to bask in the reflected glory" of Mandela but had made sure his own was an exemplary "life well lived" in a "spirit of magnanimity, altruism and unselfishness." The archbishop added that Sisulu "was not afraid and not diminished by having to play second fiddle"; he had always done things to help other people and used "power and position for the sake of others."
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Hundreds of township schoolchildren lined the route flanking the funeral cortege as the gun carriage carried Sisulus casket from the stadium to his final resting place. The bugle played the Last Post beside the grave.
Thousands of local residents joined the assembled dignitaries to ensure that Sisulus funeral was as much a celebration of his extraordinary life and achievements as a fitting farewell to a liberation fighter committed to freedom for all South Africans, regardless of race or colour.
Mourners travelled from all over the country to give Comrade Sisulu a tearful, but tuneful and song-filled send-off. Reverend I.G. Swanepoel from Bloemfontein, mingling among the crowd at the stadium, said "We have lost a man and a hero, a man with dignity. He was a hero. He was a man of the people and a man who did not want positions."
Another young man said Sisulu was "a nation builder, the greatest. The best leadership ever in this country the comrade has left behind." A young law student also pointed to the legacy of the ANC giant, saying simply "Look at this comrade! Walter Sisulu has done a great job."
The same message echoed around the stadium as thousands sang "Walter Sisulu a huna a no vana nae," which, in the local Venda language, means, "there is no one like Walter Sisulu."
