Walter Sisulu: A Sense of Outrage

Although hailed, alongside Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, as one of the African National Congress’s holy trinity, Walter Sisulu has remained a relatively neglected figure in the historiography of the struggle for liberation in South Africa. Modest and unassuming, Sisulu was always content to stay in the background in a way that has long belied his importance. This nuanced and highly original biography, drafted by political historian Tom Lodge before his untimely death, provides a powerful corrective. Lodge describes Sisulu as an exceptional organizer, the most influential planner of the ANC’s mass campaigning during the 1950s, a principled but undoctrinaire communist, and like Mandela, an advocate of the necessity of armed struggle. He also served as the careful navigator of the ambiguous relationship between the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and Lodge details how Sisulu, with his exceptional grasp of the subtleties of fact and law, confounded the prosecution as he sat in the dock in the Rivonia trial. Sentenced to life imprisonment with his fellow defendants, Sisulu became a calming influence amid the divisive ideological debates that took place on Robben Island, as well as a constant source of strength and support to Mandela. After his 1989 release from jail—ahead of Mandela—he again demonstrated his prowess as the chief organizer of the ANC as it reestablished itself ahead of the 1994 elections. Sociologist Roger Southall stepped in to complete Lodge’s detailed analysis of Sisulu’s commitment and contribution to South African freedom, an encomium that Walter Sisulu richly deserves.