[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2275-E2276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              TRIBUTE TO ALBERTINA SISULU OF SOUTH AFRICA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 20, 1998

  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a great woman who 
has earned a place in history, Mrs. Albertina Sisulu of South Africa, 
who was elected as a member of Parliament in 1994.
  Born in the Transkei, she lived in Johannesburg when the African 
National Congress Youth League became active in 1944. It was an 
eventful year for her. She joined the League, qualified as a nurse and 
midwife, and married Walter Sisulu, the political leader and friend of 
Nelson Mandela who shared his passion for freedom and justice.
  Together, the Sisulus fought oppression and endured enormous anguish 
as Welter, who was then the general secretary of the ANC, was 
imprisoned eight times between 1953 and 1964. Mrs. Sisulu joined the 
ANC Women's League and became an executive member of the Federation of 
South African Women. She played an active role in the 1952 Defiance 
Campaign and in the protest against the Bantu Education Act. In 1956, 
she was prominent in the historic national demonstration in Pretoria 
when 20,000 women protested against the extension of passes to African 
women. In 1959, she was elected treasurer of the ANC Women's League.
  Mrs. Sisulu showed tremendous courage in continuing her anti-
apartheid activities after her husband was sent to Robben Island and 
she herself was placed under banning orders for nineteen years, ten of 
them under house arrest. In August of 1983, she was charged with 
furthering the aims of the ANC. Six months later she was found guilty 
and sentenced to four years' imprisonment, but her conviction was 
overturned. While she was in custody awaiting trial, she was elected as 
the Transvaal President of the newly-formed United Democratic Front. 
She also became National President of the South African Federation of 
Women. In 1988, she was again banned and her freedom to travel was 
restricted. Undaunted, she joined other prominent Soweto citizens who 
negotiated with the

[[Page E2276]]

then Soweto City Council on the question of rent boycotts. She was also 
nominated by a number of international figures for the post of rector 
of the University of Edinburgh. In 1989, she was part of a delegation 
which visited President Bush and Mrs. Thatcher to brief them on the 
situation in South Africa. In October, her husband and other leaders 
were released from jail.
  Since the landmark year of 1990, she has continued to be in the 
forefront of South Africa's continued challenges, serving as Deputy 
President of the ANC Women's League and as a member of the National 
Executive of the ANC. In 1993, she served as President of the World 
Peace Council in Basie, Switzerland before becoming a member of 
Parliament. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues here in the House of 
Representatives to join me in honoring Mrs. Sisulu, a valiant woman who 
has charged countless lives for the better, as she celebrates her 80th 
birthday this week.

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