Albertina Sisulu – A spirit that binds two countries

The city of Reggio Emilia in Italy may not be as well known to South Africans as Rome, Milan or Venice, but its claim to fame is as the birthplace of the Italian flag – the famous red, white and green tricolour – and of the renowned Reggio Emilia Approach, an educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education that values the expressiveness and creativity of each child. At least, that was the case until the South African Ambassador to Italy, Shirish Soni, arrived in Italy and, through his hyperactive social media postings, profiled the city’s historical connection with South African liberation icon Albertina Sisulu.

For Ambassador Soni, the city’s solidarity and support for the South African liberation movement was far too important not to be celebrated through the arts. Spurred on by Ambassador Soni and Serena Foracchia, the Deputy Mayor for International Affairs of the City of Reggio Emilia, a delegation of arts producers from the city’s Mamino Theatre found their way to Johannesburg. Their journey brought them to the Hillbrow Theatre, Windybrow Theatre and the Market Theatre Laboratory to commence discussions about a collaborative production that will celebrate the city’s historical solidarity with South Africa’s liberation struggle.

Reggio Emilia was actively involved in the promotion of the anti-apartheid movement abroad and went on to sign a solidarity pact with the African National Congress (ANC) in 1977. Oliver Tambo, then President of the ANC, addressed delegates in the Municipal Theatre of Reggio Emilia. Tambo and other guests were also welcomed in Rome by the then-president of Italy, Alessandro Pertini, and Pope John Paul II. In 1987, the city conferred honorary citizenship to Albertina Sisulu.

This year marks the centenary of Albertina Sisulu’s birth. An excellent turnout of political and cultural activists gathered at the Market Theatre on Monday 22 October 2018, a day after the late icon’s 100th birthday, to celebrate her legacy under the theme ‘Celebrating 100 years of Albertina Sisulu, A woman of fortitude’.

Women and War, Struggle and Stories event held at the Market Theatre in October. PHOTOS Michael Phasha

The evening commenced with a screening of the 2004 documentary A South African Love Story – Walter and Albertina Sisulu, followed by a lively panel discussion that proved that Ma Sisulu’s legacy remains relevant and well respected. The discussion was led by an all-female panel comprising of authors Elinor Sisulu, Sindiwe Magona and Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin, photography archivist Ayanda Sisulu and academic researcher Sithembile Mbete.

‘I was totally moved by the screening of the film that told of the adversities faced by the Sisulu family. We take it for granted that there are leaders who drove the freedom we enjoy as young people in South Africa and we have also forgotten that the families of these leaders were also suffering during this time of turmoil and upset in the country. I believe the screening should form part of our history lessons lest we forget where we come from,’ says Lerato Masokane, a guest at the event.

A celebrated author, Magona was in attendance at the Market Theatre to launch her abridged version of the biography about the struggle hero. Her book, Albertina Sisulu: Abridged Memoir, was inspired by Elinor Sisulu’s Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime.

In her book, Elinor Sisulu writes about the more than five decades that Walter and Albertina Sisulu spent at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid. As secretary-general of the ANC, Walter was sentenced to life imprisonment with Nelson Mandela in 1964 and spent 26 years in prison until his release in 1989. While her husband and his colleagues were in jail, Albertina played a crucial role in keeping the ANC alive underground, and in the 1980s was co-president of the United Democratic Front. Their story has been one of persecution, bitter struggle and painful separation. But it is also one of patience, hope and enduring love.

Women and War, Struggle and Stories event held at the Market Theatre in October. PHOTOS Michael Phasha

‘I knew Albertina Sisulu before meeting Elinor Sisulu, who is the daughter-in-law of the Sisulus. In this book, Albertina Sisulu: Abridged Memoir, I managed to do what could not be done in a lifetime, I divorced them. This book focuses solely on the life of Albertina Sisulu. Of course, there are some parts that are still mixed up with Walter Sisulu’s life. The book highlights the activist and feminist that was Albertina Sisulu,’ says Magona.

Albertina Sisulu, revered by South Africans as the true mother of the nation, was a survivor of the golden age of the ANC. Her life with the second most important figure in the ANC, Walter Sisulu, exemplified the underpinning role of women in the struggle against apartheid.

In 1944, she was the sole woman at the inaugural meeting of the radical offshoot of the ANC, the Youth League, with Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Tambo and Anton Lembede in the vanguard. Her final years were spent in an unpretentious house in the former white suburb of Linden in Johannesburg.

Driven by the inner-strength and the resilience of a lifetime of hardship and persecution, there’s absolutely no doubt that Albertina Sisulu was an extraordinary woman. The celebratory event at the Market Theatre honoured her and paid tribute to her legacy. It is the kind of catalyst needed to inspire the kind of moral of leadership that will ensure that all South Africans have a better life.

The road ahead now is to see what the Mamino Theatre, Hillbrow Theatre, Windybrow Arts Centre and the Market Theatre Laboratory come up with to strengthen the cultural ties between Reggio Emilia and the City of Johannesburg. Ambassador Soni and Deputy Mayor Serena Foracchia have planted the seeds for cultural collaboration. It will be the spirit of Albertina Sisulu that will be the thread that weaves itself between the two cities to inspire its creatives to develop an original work that can critically reflect on and celebrate the past but to also re-envision the future.