March 12, 2008 ‒ “Walter and Albertina Sisulu: Parenting a Nation” is an intimate account of the private and political lives of the Sisulu family during the struggle against apartheid.
The exhibition was developed by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in partnership with the Sisulu family and the Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Centre for Africa. Through photographs, text and archival documents, the exhibition recounts a struggle within a struggle: the 26 years Walter Sisulu spent in jail, and the impact this had on his family.
The exhibition was launched at the Nelson Mandela Foundation on March 12, 2008.
Verne Harris, head of the Memory Programme at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, says the exhibition is unique as it foregrounds Albertina Sisulu’s political work and her husband Walter Sisulu’s non-political work – two angles to their fascinating collective story that are rarely touched upon.
Harris says: “The world knows it’s Madiba’s 90th birthday this year, but not many know it’s Ma Albertina’s 90th. In this exhibition, we’re foregrounding Ma Albertina and the Sisulu family.”
“Walter and Albertina Sisulu met at the Johannesburg General Hospital in 1941 where Albertina Thethiwe was working as a nurse,” the exhibition text recounts. “They married on 15 July 1944 with Nelson Mandela as their best man.”
The text continues: “Albertina and Walter Sisulu spent scarcely nine years together in the first 20 years of their marriage. Before he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, Walter was often either in custody, on trial or underground. Yet their house in Soweto became a home for the family and countless others they took under their wing.”
Walter Sisulu was sentenced at the Rivonia Trial to life imprisonment with Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni and Denis Goldberg.
The exhibition showcases letters written to Walter Sisulu by Albertina Sisulu and their children. One has paragraphs cut out by prison censors. The exhibition also shows the prison desk diaries of Nelson Mandela, which record – alongside his daily blood pressure – the day on which Walter Sisulu was released, October 15, 1989.
Albertina Sisulu’s political life is also described. She was a member of the ANC Youth League, the Federation of South African Women (Fedsaw), and a leader of the 1956 anti-pass demonstration which saw 20 000 women marching to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. In the 1980s she was a leader of the United Democratic Front.
She is quoted in the exhibition as saying: “Although politics has given me a rough life, there is absolutely nothing I regret about what I have done and what has happened to me and my family throughout all these years. Instead, I have been strengthened and feel more of a woman than I would otherwise have felt if my life was different.”
Harris says the Sisulu family was instrumental in putting the exhibition together, in particular biographer Elinor Sisulu (wife of Max), Lungi Sisulu (son of Walter and Albertina) and Lungi Sisulu’s daughter, Tumi Sisulu. “They contributed their time, their family archives and their comment on the text,” explains Harris.
“The Nelson Mandela Foundation Centre of Memory and Dialogue is not only about Madiba,” adds Harris. “It’s about his comrades, family, associates, and friends as well.”
The exhibition quotes Nelson Mandela on his impression of Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s relationship: “A unity of such deep friendship and mutual respect, a personal and political partnership that transcended and survived all hardships, separations and persecution.”
The exhibition will run until July at the Nelson Mandela Foundation and it is open to the public by appointment. Please contact Zanele Riba or Razia Saleh at (011) 728 1000 for more information.
Parenting a Nation: Photo Gallery
Parenting a Nation is an exhibition that celebrates the political and personal lives of Albertina and Walter Sisulu during the anti-apartheid struggle.
