South Africa mourns anti-apartheid hero

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South Africans on Tuesday mourned the passing of anti-apartheid hero Walter Sisulu, a quiet, dignified man who dedicated his life to bringing equality to South Africa.

"We have lost a remarkable man," said former South African President Nelson Mandela, one of Sisulu's closest friends.

Sisulu, 90, died about 9 p.m. Monday at his Johannesburg home in the arms of his wife, Albertina. "He had such a beautiful smile. He left a happy man," his son Max said.

President Thabo Mbeki praised Sisulu as "a giant among our people" and ordered flags at all government buildings to be flown at half-staff Wednesday. Mbeki said he would ask the Cabinet to give Sisulu a state funeral.

A succession of government officials and anti-apartheid fighters visited Sisulu's Johannesburg home throughout the day to pay their respects to a leader they memorialized as modest and humble.

The state-run South African Broadcasting Corp. ran specials throughout the day on Sisulu's life and carried live coverage from outside his house. The Star newspaper called Sisulu "a man of tremendous dignity," while the Sowetan called him "a gift from God."

Sisulu, an anti-apartheid fighter for more than 60 years, brought Mandela into the African National Congress and co-founded its militant youth league with him and Oliver Tambo.

In 1949, he was elected ANC secretary general, and he helped organize the 1952 "defiance campaign," a program of civil disobedience against apartheid laws.

He was jailed repeatedly in following years before he and a group of ANC comrades, including Mandela, were convicted in 1964 of plotting anti-government sabotage in the highly publicized "Rivonia trial."

"Mr. Sisulu was engaged in the struggle for multiracial democracy for all his adult life," U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement. "He was known and loved by people far beyond South Africa's borders for his humility, integrity, intellect and vision."

Sisulu spent more than 25 years in jail, but appeared to have no traces of bitterness when he emerged in 1989.

"The apartheid regime took a disproportionate share of his time away from us ... but we were happy to have the remaining years of his life with him at home," Max Sisulu said.

During his time at the notorious Robben Island prison off Cape Town, Sisulu was regarded with awe by his fellow political prisoners, whom he taught the history of the anti-apartheid struggle.

"To cultivate young people, to cultivate new freedom fighters, that was his distinguishing mark," Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, one of Sisulu's fellow prisoners, said Tuesday.

Many of the prisoners on the island came from different political factions, and some were wary of the ANC leaders, Mandela said.

"(But) all the prisoners regarded Walter as their godfather," he said.

Sadness over his death cut across racial and political lines.

Tony Leon, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, mourned the passing of "one of South Africa's great heroes."

"Few visionaries are able to see their dreams fulfilled. Walter Sisulu was fortunate enough to enjoy the new South Africa that he had worked so hard and sacrificed so much to bring about," he said.

Mbeki told of the difficulty he had trying to teach Sisulu to drive many years ago. Instead of honking the car horn to warn children to get out of the road, he would stop the car, get out and yell at them to leave, Mbeki said.

"It reflected his sense of the value of human life, his love for these little children," he said.