South Africans prepare to bury Sisulu

Tens of thousands of people celebrated the life of Walter Sisulu and paid their last respects to the man eulogised in a state funeral as the selfless anchor of the anti-apartheid struggle.

Hours before the hearse arrived at a soccer stadium in Soweto with a military band playing mournful music, thousands danced in the stands and sang old liberation songs about Nelson Mandela, the late struggle leader Oliver Tambo and Sisulu.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in his eulogy, called Sisulu ”heroically humble” and said he found it ironic that a man considered public enemy no. 2 in the apartheid era was now being mourned by tens of thousands.

“I want to declare loud and clear that after a life so exemplary, so inspiring ... we are filled with deep thankfulness,” said Tutu. “We have come to celebrate a wonderful life poured out so unselfishly on behalf of others.”

The white hearse carrying Sisulu’s coffin, draped in a South African flag, travelled slowly from his Soweto home to the stadium several miles away. Mourners lined the route, each raising a fist in the air and singing the traditional mourning song of the guerrilla wing of the African National Congress.

After the funeral four black and four white military men placed Sisulu’s coffin on an olive drab gun carriage for the journey to the Soweto cemetery.

Sisulu has been hailed as the quiet giant of the anti-apartheid struggle, the strategist and the confidant of such leaders as Tambo and Mandela.

He died on May 5 after a long illness. He was 90.

Mandela, who had been Sisulu’s close friend for more than 60 years, called him someone who brought people together, someone who never asked of others something he was unprepared to do himself, someone who would be an example to leaders of today.

He said Sisulu was “one of the greatest among a generation of great freedom fighters,” a generation he said was now reaching the end of a long and heroic struggle.

“From the moment when we first met, he has been my brother, my keeper, my comrade,” said Mandela.

In the crowd at Orlando Stadium, old struggle fighters mixed with teenagers who only learned about Sisulu after his death. Many journeyed long distances to attend the state funeral, some travelled more than a day to pay respects to the quiet giant of the liberation struggle.

“He was our role model and he fought for this country ... we must pay tribute,” said Sylvia Mtongana, 53, who travelled a day and half by train from Port Elizabeth to attend the funeral.

Sisulu, the popular but quiet liberation hero, was an anti-apartheid fighter for more than 60 years. He brought Mandela into the ANC and co-founded its militant youth league with Mandela and Tambo.

He was jailed repeatedly in the 1950s and 1960s before he was sentenced to life in 1964 alongside Mandela and other ANC leaders for plotting anti-government sabotage.

Sisulu spent more than 25 years in jail before his release in 1989. Though he did not take a government position when the ANC came to power in the country’s first all-race elections in 1994, he set a moral example for the nation, ANC leaders said.

President Thabo Mbeki called Sisulu a “gentle giant” and said his memory and his example would live forever.

“The African colossus that lies in front of us might have fallen, but he has not died,” said Mbeki.

“Walter Sisulu’s life had meaning not because he lived but because he gave new life to the millions who are proud to call themselves Africans.”

Mbeki said Sisulu was a patriot “who could never be bought or corrupted or forced by fear or fashion or love of material things to auction his soul.”

Mourners at the stadium also included African presidents Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Many in the crowd said they were not sad but joyful, and wanted to celebrate the life of the man who helped bring about their liberation.

“I’m just here to celebrate. I’m not here to mourn him,” said Emmanuel Ramafalo, 24. “I think where ever he is he would be happy to see us celebrating.”

Anderson Kongwana, 42, of Port Elizabeth, said he came because Sisulu, Mandela and a whole generation of leaders sacrificed themselves for him and his children.

“We won’t forget what they did for us. We won’t forget,” said Kongwana.

Many in the crowd carried posters with Sisulu’s picture calling him the “hero of heroes” and “architect of our nation”.

The country has mourned Sisulu for 10 days since he died at home in the arms of his wife, Albertini whom he married in 1944.

Hundred of ordinary South Africans joined government ministers, African dignitaries and veterans of the struggle to take one last look at Sisulu on Friday night as his body lay in state at a Soweto hall.

“He was a great man, a humble man, a father figure,” Ahmed Kathrada, who was jailed with Sisulu and Mandela in 1964, said at the hall. “We pledge to him that we will carry on the legacy that he left behind for us.”

World leaders from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to US Secretary of State Colin Powell have sent their condolences. More than two dozen memorials have been held for him across South Africa. Newspapers printed special sections in his honour and nearly every political party and national organisation has sent messages of grief.

Sisulu’s grandson, Mlumgisi Sisulu, spoke for the family at the funeral Saturday.

“Farewell,” he said, “you have fought the good fight.”