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Sources:  Walter & Albertina Sisulu - In our lifetime - Author: Elinor Sisulu (2002)

• Born: 18 May 1912 in  a village called Qutubeni village in Transkei
• Mother:   Alice Manse Sisulu (she was 28 years old when Walter Sisulu was born)
• Father:  Albert Victor Dickinson (born 9 July 1886 the son of Albert Edward Dickinson of Port Elizabeth)
• Sister: Rosabella (four years younger than Walter nicknamed Barbie)
• Mamkhulu (senior mother) - Agnes (his mother's sister)
• Nicknames: Nokwindla or Tyhopo (Robben Island)
• Clan: Walter was taught to identify with the Xhosa Gcina clan  (one of the Thembu Royal clans)
• Education: He attended different schools before he went to the All Saints Mission midway between Dungunyeni and Qutubeni. He completed standard four and part of Standard five at the All Saints Mission. He was always "caned on the palms of his hands" because he was frequently late for school as he first had to attend to the cattle. His favourite subjects were English and history. He sang tenor and alto in the school choir. He also participated in singing competitions with other choirs. In prison (Robben Island) he carried on with his 0-levels. He studied through the Rapid Results College and his fees were paid by the British Embassy. He passed commerce in June 1996, economics in June 1967, history in June 1968 and geography in Jan 1969. He started studying Afrikaans, but did not make much progress. By 1970, Walter was looking forward to completing one more subject to obtain his full certificate, but then received a letter from the British Embassy stating that the prison authorities had informed them that he was no longer permitted to study with an overseas institution. He successfully passed his 0-levels in January 1975. He then wanted to continue his studies for a diploma in local government (his appeal was unsuccessful). He then enrolled for a BA with UNISA. (incomplete). Apart from the problems with the prison authorities, Walter had his own problems (eyesight, health)
• Political Consciousness: His political consciousness started in the early 1920s.  A man named Wellington Buthelezi came to the village with his lieutenant, Reverend Twals. Buthelezi was a Zulu from Natal but he posed as a black American who had graduated from Oxford and Cambridge.  He had meetings and Walter recalled: "They talked about freedom for the black man and condemned the whites for their injustice and repression".  Buthelezi told them that the education they were getting was that of a white man and they needed to get a black man's education.  He setup schools and Walter also moved to one of the schools, but left school soon after he started standard five.
• Age 10 - 16 years:  By the time walter was 10 years old he could ride  young calves rodeo style and once broke his arm in the process.  Walter became proficient in riding and training  from his mother's brother Theophilus, who loved horses.His first brush with the law took place when he was 10 years old as a result of a stick-stealing expedition.  He was arrested and charged with stealing sticks and his Uncle (Dyantyi) had to pay a fine of 30-shilling admission of guilt. Some people also remember Walter for stickfighting and how he "masterminded the defence" and only got seriously injured onceHe moved to Johannesburg (1928) after he worked for a year on the family fields in Qutubeni. He borrowed tax receipts from his cousin after he was told he was too young to enter into a working contract to work in the gold mines. He worked in the gold mines of the Witwatersrand under an assumed identity "Mino Masimini Hlakula".  The chief clerk felt was too young for underground work and he arraged that Walter work for the diary farmer who delivered milk to the mine.
• 1930: circumcision ceremony - worked until mid 1931 before he returned to Qutubeni went to East Londen and returned to Qutubeni in 1932.  Returned to Joburg (Doornfontein) in 1933 stayed with his mother and stepfather. Found work at Premier Milling company with Premier biscuits
• 1932 - got a temporary job with a newspaper - moved on to be a distribution (newspaper) agent but was declared bankrupt in 1938/9 mainly because of misappropriation of funds by the school children that he hired to sell the papers
• 1933 - return to Johannesburg - stayed with his mother in Doornfontein (23 Van Wyk street)
• (22 years old) The Slums clearance act - 1934 - Walter and his family were victims of this "clearance policy" and were moved to Orlando.
• (24 years old) 1936 - Walter initiated a strike at the Premier Milling company demanding higher wages. He lost his job.
• 1936 - employed as one of the enumerators for the population Census
• (26 years old) 1938 was employed by the  Union Bank of SA as a marketing agent  (it was during this time that Walter learned  that being black in SA meant being constantly on the wrong side of the law)
• 1938 - met Govan Mbeki
• (28 years old) 1940 - formally recruited into the ANC by a trade unionist, Alfred Mbele
• 1940 - Walter took out a broker's licence and started in partnership with a man callled, Msimang the Non-European United Estate Agency - things did not go so well between him and his partner. Formed a new company with four other partners - Sitha Investments and trust Co. through his bussiness he met Nelson Mandela in 1941 and Oliver Tambo in 1942
• 1941 met Albertina
• (32 years old) 1944 - ANC Youth League - Walter elected treasurer
• 15 July 1944 got married 
• 23 Aug. 1945 - First son was born, Max Vuyisile
• (35 years old) 1947 - December, ANC annual conference - Programme of Action was adopted unanimously - Walter was elected secretary-general of the Youth League
• 1948 - second son, Mlungisi was born
• (37 years old) 1949 - elected secretary-general of the ANC @ the 1949 ANC conference
• 1950 - Walter first-time on a plane - from PE to East London
• 17 December 1950 - Third son, Zwelekhe was born
• (40 years old) 26 June 1952 - Walter arrested leading the defiance campaign march (Transvaal campaign)
• 27 June 1952 - Nelson Mandela was arrested
• 21 July 1952 - Walter convicted for not carrying a pass (short sentence); two weeks later - again arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and were released on €100 bail; Case was heard in court at a later date, andfound guilty. Walter got sentenced to  9 months in prison with hard labour, suspended for 3 years
• 1952 - discussions of the ANC being banned
• 1952 - ANC conference  - Trades Hall  - in order to avoid the police, Walter disguised himself by wearing a Muslim coufia and presented his report as secretary-general  (Walter was relelected as secretary-general)
• (41 years old) Jan 1953 - defiance campaign was called off (one of the most positive outcomes of this campaign for the ANC was an increase in membership)
• 1953 - received an invitation to attend Youth and student festival in Bucharest, Romania  (they did not get passports  and had to travel with affidavits from laywers that they were SA citizens) he returned from his overseas visit on 14 December 1953
• 1953 - Professor Matthews made a public call at the  Provincial Congress of the ANC in the Cape  to a Congress of the People to work out a Freedom Charter  for all groups in the country
• 1953 - Government start preparing a notice to ban Walter from participation in the ANC
• 20-21 March 1954 - Tongati Natal - Walter called a mtg to discuss this proposal - the conference concluded  with a National Action Council of which Walter was a member
• May 1954 - Lindiwe (the one we have waited for), a girl,  was born
• 22 July 1954 - Walter was odered in terms of section 5 of the Suppression of Communism Act, to resign as a member, official or office-bearer of the ANC and of any related Congress organisations within 7 days
• 24 July 1954 - went to a NEC meeting held in Botshabelo Location in Bethlehem - in the Orange Free State, were he was arrested. He spent the weekend in jail and was released on Monday on bail of €100. He returned to the Orange Free State for the trail (Joe Slovo represented him) and was sentenced to three months in prison with compulsory labour for a crime unique in history, namely: "Attending a gathering in order to partake of, or be present whilst others partake of, refreshment" The appeal was won on 24 April 1955 by his defence team headed by Bram Fisher.
• Although Oliver Thambo was elected as secretary-general in 1955, Walter continued to work underground on secretarial duties.
• (43 years old) 1955 - Walter joined the SACP
• 1955 was dominated by three major campaigns: the Congress of the People; the campaign against Bantu education; and the Western Areas removals campaign
• 26 June 1955 - Kliptown - Congress of the People (Walter and Mandela could only watch the proceedings, because both of them were banned) The first draft of the Freedom Charter was presented to 2 884 delegates
• 1956 - became a member of the Central Committee of the SACP
• 12 Dec 1956 - arrested for high treason with 16 others - brings the total of treason arrestees to 156 (Canon John Collins  a founder of the London-based organisation (Christian Action) organised and guaranteed legal cost and support for the accused and their families)
• 19 Dec 1956 - made first appearance in court
• 21 Dec 1956 - granted bail - Walter spent Christmas with his family
• 9 Jan 1957 - back in court (in and out of court for 9 months during this period the case was dropped against 65 of the 156)
• 11 Sept 1957 - the prosecutor gave the defence 4 months to prepare their case
• 9 Oct 1957 - Nonkululeko (mother of freedom), another girl, was born
• 10 Jan 1958 - 61 accussed were back in court (high treason) Case was referred to the Transvaal Supreme Court
• August 1958 - Case was shifted to Pretoria (Walter and the others were transported by bus from JHB to Pretoria); went on until August 1959 when another 30 were considered guilty - the remaining 30 pleaded not guilty - case went on to hear more evidence
• 21 March 1960 - PAC anti-pass campaign (Sharpville massacre)
• 28 March 1960 - day of mourning - turned out to be the biggest strike in the country.
• 29 March 1960 - High treason case verdict - were acquitted
• 30 March 1960 - almost all known activists were arrested - then they were arrested for a few seconds just to be re-arrested  under new emergency regulations for 5 months  (State of emergency was declared)
• 30 March 1960 - 31 August 1960 - State of emergency
• March 1961 - "all in" African conference - decide on an anti-Republic strike
• 31 May 1961 - SA proclaimed a Republic
• October 1961 - ANC bought a farm (safe house for ANC activist) - Lilliesleaf Farm, a small holding in Rivonia
• June 1961 - decision by Walter and Nelson that Nelson must propose the idea of a arm struggle @ a mtg of the Working committee
• 1961 - Joint executive mtg of the Congress Alliance in Durban  - discussion about the armed struggle - a mandate was given to Mandela to form a new military organisation because the ANC policy was one of nonviolence.
• 16 December 1961 - Umkhonto we Siswe (Spear of the Nation) (MK) was launched with Mandela as chair and Walter as political commissar (laying down the basic organisational framework of MK, which consisted of the National High Command, Regional commands, Local commands and cells.
• 1962 - Walter was most arrested political leader in the country
• 27 June 1962 - Sabotage Act was passed (the law provided for the house arrest of banned persons - only go to work and back) (minimum sentence of 5 years and a maximum of death for sabotage)
• 5 November 1962 - Walter's mother died, aged 78.
• February 1963 - Walter sister died (during this period Walter was in and out of jail and had four charges against him: being a member of the ANC; taking part in ANC actvities, furthering an aim of the ANC by advocating a national convention; and incitement to strike he conspired with Nelson Mandela and others to call the May 1961 strike) he was released on bail of R6000-00
• 3 April 1963 - Walter was placed under 24-hour house arrest
• 19 April 1963 - Walter went underground
• 11 July 1963 - Rivonia arrest - meeting @ Lilliesleaf Farm - to discuss "Operation Mayibuye" police came in a dry cleaners van and arrested Walter, Govan Mbeki, Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Rusty Bernstein, Dennis Goldberg and Bob Hepple (19 people altogether).  They were first detained under the "90-day Act"
• 11 July 1964 - verdict passed - life sentenced on Robben Island
• 31 March 1982 - Transfered to Pollsmoor - (Mandela, Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni)
• 28 April 1982 - In a hospital in Woodstock (Cape Town) - first contact visit in 18 years)

• May 1982 - Ruth First spoke at a meeting in honour of Walter Sisulu’s 70^th birthday. She said: "Walter Sisulu was not a man for the public occasion, though he could rise to any. He was the man who made the public occasion possible, who behind the scenes had carried the burden of the organisation’s work. It was his earnest attention to detail, his patient persistence, which carried the Congress and its campaigns through the country.

• 1983 - The United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed out of a coalition of nearly 600 organisations in order to persuade the government to abolish apartheid. Walter Sisulu received a prison visit from his third child and son, Zwelakhe, after the UDF launch.

• Aug 1983 - Albertina Sisulu was arrested and charged with furthering the aims of the ANC at the funeral of her friend and fellow activist Rose Mbele. Shortly after her arrest, she was elected UDF co-president.

• 1984 - PW Botha became Executive State President.The University of York awarded Walter Sisulu an honorary degree in absentia. Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s adopted son, Jongumzi, was arrested for MK activities.

• Jan 1984 - Specialist physician Dr Dawie Roux thoroughly examined Walter Sisulu and declared him healthy except for the normal infirmities of age. His left eye had also become very weak. Walter Sisulu rejected a government offer for his conditional release.

• Feb 1984 - Albertina Sisulu was released on bail pending appeal. She was later found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison.

• 5 April 1984 - Walter Sisulu wrote a letter to his fourth child and first daughter, Lindiwe, about Matanzima’s plans to have them released from prison.

• Aug 1984 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s second child and second son, Lungi, was detained for two weeks following a national protest by black people during the segregated parliamentary election for Coloureds and Indians.

• 1985 - The PW Botha Government declared a State of Emergency, allowing the police to arrest people without warrants, as well as to detain people indefinitely without charge and without informing their lawyers or next of kin. Albertina Sisulu became one of the first people to be restricted to her house without any visitors. Media censorship was also extended under the emergency regulations. Another 50 American companies withdrew from South Africa, bringing to 90 the number that had pulled out of the country in a year. 

• 31 Jan 1985 - President PW Botha made a general concession to release prisoners who renounced violence.

• 1986 - The PW Botha Government again imposed a State of Emergency.; Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s adopted son, Jongumzi, was sentenced to five years on Robben Island.; Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s third son, Zwelakhe, was detained for two years; When Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s eldest grandson, Mlungisi Junior, was detained for nine months for taking part in the Soweto student movement, three generations of the Sisulu family were in prison; Albertina Sisulu’s four-year prison sentence was overturned on appeal.

• 1987 - Walter Sisulu had discussions with Nelson Mandela about his meetings with the government

• Nov. 1987 - Govan Mbeki was released from jail without any explanation. There was speculation about Walter Sisulu’s imminent release.

• July 1988 - A Lenasia-based newspaper, The Indicator, awarded the Sisulu family the Newsmaker of the Year Award. Zwelakhe’s wife, Zodwa, received the certificate, while Lungi’s wife, Sheila, made the acceptance speech.

• Dec. 1988 - Nelson Mandela was transferred on his own to Victor Verster Prison from Pollsmoor.The Carter Centre at Emory University in Atlanta, USA, gave the Carter Menil Human Rights Award to the Sisulu family

• June 1989 - The government finally succumbed to international pressure and gave Albertina Sisulu a passport, enabling her to lead a high-level UDF delegation overseas. The delegation met British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and American President George Bush Snr. It was the first time that 10 Downing Street in London and the White House in Washington had received an anti-apartheid organisation at that level.

• 5 July 1989 - National Intelligence Chief Niël Barnard organised a secret meeting between President PW Botha and Nelson Mandela at Tuynhuis. Journalist Allister Sparks said: "Towards the end of the meeting, Nelson Mandela raised the subject of Walter Sisulu, seizing the opportunity to urge the president directly to release his old friend and colleague on compassionate grounds; Walter Sisulu was then moved to Nelson Mandela’s old cells for about three months.

• 14 Aug 1989 - President PW Botha abruptly resigned following a stroke.

• Sept 1989 - Moderate National Party leader and Education Minister FW de Klerk was inaugurated as South Africa’s president.

• 10 Oct 1989 - President FW de Klerk announced the release of eight leading ‘Robben Islanders’ – the ANC’s Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Kathy Kathrada, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Wilton Mkwayi and Oscar Mpetha, as well as the PAC’s military wing founder Jafta Masemola.

• 13 Oct 1989 - Walter Sisulu and the other political prisoners were flown to Johannesburg where they spent two nights at Diepkloof.

• 14 Oct 1989 - Albertina Sisulu’s State of Emergency conditions were lifted.

• 15 Oct 1989 - Walter Sisulu and seven political prisoners were officially released from jail

• 29 Oct 1989 - The ANC held a massive rally, which attracted about 80-thousand people, at the FNB Stadium in Soweto. Walter Sisulu was the main speaker. 

• Dec. 1989 - Nelson Mandela met President FW de Klerk. The terms of, and conditions for, his release were negotiated.

• Jan 1990 - Walter Sisulu and the other political prisoners released in October 1989 held their first reunion with the exiled ANC leadership in Lusaka, Zambia.

• 2 Feb. 1990 - President FW de Klerk announced in Parliament that Nelson Mandela would be released from Victor Verster Prison. 

• 11 Feb 1990 - Nelson Mandela was released from the Victor Verster Prison and made his first public appearance at the Grand Parade in Cape Town

• 12 Feb 1990 - Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela were photographed outside Nelson Mandela’s house in Soweto, where crowds had come to welcome the world’s most famous prisoner home

• 13 Feb 1990 - Nelson Mandela addressed a 100-thousand strong crowd at the FNB Stadium in Soweto. Again Walter Sisulu stood next to Nelson Mandela as they joined the crowd in singing Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika.

• May 1990 - The ANC, including Walter Sisulu, met the government for so-called ‘talks about talks’ to plan formal negotiations for South Africa’s transition at Groote Schuur – President FW de Klerk’s official Cape Town residence. This was the first time that Walter Sisulu met President FW de Klerk.

• June 1990 - The FW de Klerk Government lifted the State of Emergency.

• 6 Aug 1990 - The government and ANC signed the Pretoria Minute, in which the ANC suspended but didn’t terminate its armed struggle.

• 9 Aug 1990 - Albertina Sisulu was elected deputy-President at the ANC Women’s League conference in Durban.

• 16 Dec. 1990 Walter Sisulu, as the ANC’s internal leader, had prepared the ANC’s national conference inside South Africa.

• 1991 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s eldest child, Max, returned to South Africa after 27 years in exile with his wife, Elinor

• Feb 1991 - The Group Areas Act, the Population Registration Act, as well as the 1913 and 1936 Land Acts were wiped off the statute books.

• July 1991 - The ANC held its first national conference since it was banned in 1960. Nelson Mandela was unanimously elected president, Walter Sisulu was elected deputy-president and OR Tambo was elected national chairperson.

• 8 Jan 1992 - During the ANC’s 80^th anniversary in Bloemfontein, Walter Sisulu received the ANC’s highest honour, the Isitwalandwe Seaparankoe, for his contribution to the liberation struggle.

• April 1993 - ANC/SACP leader Chris Hani was assassinated. Walter Sisulu’s grief was intensified by the death OR Tambo.

• June 1993 - Walter Sisulu participated in the multi-party negotiations, Codesa, at the World Trade Centre near Johannesburg Airport. 

• Nov. 1993 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Andrew and June Mlangeni returned to Robben Island with bodyguards and a film crew. They were prevented from entring the men’s former cells. Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s daughter-in-law, Elinor, began researching the Sisulu biography ‘In our Lifetime’.

• 11 Feb 1994 - Nelson Mandela and other ex-Rivonia Trialists returned to Robben Island to celebrate the fourth anniversary of his release from prison and to shoot footage for an American TV documentary.

• 28 March 1994 - Walter Sisulu was at the ANC’s headquarters in Johannesburg during the so-called Shell House Massacre.

• 27 April 1994 - More than 22-million South Africans or just more than 90 per cent of registered voters, including Walter Sisulu, went to the polls for the first time in the country’s first all-race democratic election. The ANC won the election with nearly 63%. Albertina Sisulu was elected to represent the ANC in Parliament.

• 9 May 1994 - The National Assembly unanimously elected Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first black president.

• 10 May 1994 - Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected black president at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

• 17 July 1994 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary with more than one-thousand people at the Vista University Hall in Soweto.

• Dec 1994 - Walter Sisulu term of office as ANC deputy-President ended. Ill health forced him to retire from active politics. He wrote to the ANC secretary-general to say that he wasn’t retiring in the ordinary sense of the word ‘to go and sit next to the kraal’.

• 1995 - The 9^th SACP congress unanimously made Walter Sisulu their first recipient of the Chris Hani Peace Award

• 9 June 1995 - President Nelson Mandela delivered the first Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. Nelson Mandela quoted from the last chapter of his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom: "The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in my country and my people.

• 25 Aug 1996 - The exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, visited Walter Sisulu at his Soweto home.

• 1997 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu were part of the ANC’s 70-strong delegation to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s political hearing in Cape Town. Walter Sisulu became a freeman of Johannesburg. The Robben Island Museum was opened to the public.

• Feb 1997 - Walter Sisulu and his aide, Dominick, visited Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia with George Houser and Herbert Shore. The Schneider family of Germany owned the main farmhouse.

• 1998 -  Albertina Sisulu retired as a member of South Africa’s first democratically elected parliament. She and Walter Sisulu savoured their time together with family and friends. They continued to be passionately committed to the well being of their community, especially children and young people, and devoted much of their time to the Albertina Sisulu Foundation, which was building a multi-purpose community centre in Orlando West, Soweto.

• 15 July 1998 - The Indian High Commissioner to South Africa hosted a reception in Johannesburg for Walter Sisulu and presented him with the national Padma Vibhushan award for his struggle against apartheid. 

• Feb 1999 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s daughter-in-law, Sheila Mashile Sisulu, became South Africa’s first woman ambassador to the United States of America.

• 10 March 1999 - Eighty-six-year-old Walter Sisulu was admitted to the Lesedi Clinic for hypertension. He had been suffering from chest pains and his blood pressure was ‘out of control’.

• 2 June 1999 - South Africa helds its second democratic national election with the ANC winning an even larger majority.

• 24 June 1999 - The University of the Witwatersrand honoured 87-year-old Walter and 81-year-old Albertina Sisulu with an honorary law doctorate at its graduation ceremony. The official university citation said that Walter Sisulu was a "great political leader who has never, during the decades of unspeakable persecution, wavered in his devotion to democracy and equality". It also said that historians considered Walter Sisulu to be "one of the three most important black political leaders in this country, the others being Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo".

• 30 July 2000 - The Sisulu family publicly disclosed that the daughter of their adopted son, Gerald Lockman, had died of Aids.

• 20 Sept 2000 - The Congress of South African Trade Unions, Cosatu, presented awards to comrades who had played a significant role in the trade union movement. Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Kathy Kathrada, Wilton Mkwayi, Govan Mbeki, Elias Motsoaledi and Raymond Mhlaba were thanked for their outstanding service and sacrifice to South Africa’s freedom struggle.

• 15 March 2001 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu hosted an intimate dinner at their Johannesburg home to commemorate an estimated R800-thousand  grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) for the Walter Sisulu Bursary and Training Fund. The grant was to train a hundred historically disadvantaged South Africans in effective business leadership and entrepreneurship at Unisa’s Centre for Business Development. American Ambassador Delano Lewis described the Sisulu couple as ‘living inspirations’.

• 15 May 2002 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu witnessed their daughter-in-law, Elinor, deliver a public lecture and preview in the Senate Room of Wits University on their upcoming biography, In our Lifetime. Elinor Sisulu said the biography was a gift to them and in commemoration of Walter Sisulu’s 90^th birthday.

• 16 May 2002 - The Communist Party (SACP) saluted Walter Sisulu on his 90^th birthday. It described him as: "…A patriot, a son of the soil, a hero and leader of our people, a veteran and giant of our movement. His character, role, vision, commitment, sacrifice and dedication to our people stands out as a shining example of the ongoing need for quality cadres, activists and leaders of our movement and people. Comrade Walter also symbolises the broad multi-class unity and character of our revolutionary alliance. He distinguished himself as a promoter and defender of the revolutionary alliance between the national liberation movement, the Communist Party and the trade union movement. He did not hesitate to struggle for decades against the national oppression. He sacrificed the prime of life, risking death and was incarcerated in Robben Island for 25 [26?] years…"

• 17 May 2002 - Johannesburg held a birthday party for Walter Sisulu at MuseumAfrica in Newtown. Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, two rows of brass-helmeted firemen and about 100 people celebrated the day with him while Mara Louw and Friends led the birthday song. Defence Minister Mosiua Lekota described Walter Sisulu has having a ‘knack of being very gentle’ while having the enormous strength to sustain others in the most difficult times on Robben Island. Walter Sisulu received two carved walking sticks from the city.

• 18 May 2002 - A thin and frail-looking Sisulu celebrated his 90^th birthday at the Walter Sisulu Hall in Johannesburg. President Thabo Mbeki and former President Nelson Mandela lauded Walter Sisulu for devoting his life to casting off the yoke of apartheid from South Africa.

• 17 - 23 May 2002 - President Thabo Mbeki paid tribute to Walter Sisulu on ANC Today. Mbeki described Walter Sisulu as ‘eminently worthy’ of South Africa, saying the country owed him much. "…He has won the love of our people through his deeds… He occupies a special place in the hearts of our people… Many happy returns of the day, Xhamela! May you have many more! Our country and people are blessed with many heroes and heroines … who elected to dedicate their lives to the service of the people. They were prepared to sacrifice everything … for the betterment of the condition of the people… They acted to satisfy their consciences…"

• 26 June 2002 - Pierre Swanepoel of MAS Architects and Urban Designers won the award to design the Walter Sisulu Square at Kliptown in Soweto. Construction of the square and monument was set to begin at the end of 2002 and formally be opened in 2005 for the 50^th anniversary of the Congress of the People and the Freedom Charter. The square will include a museum, retail activities and an open area for community gatherings. Kliptown was established in 1912 and about R375-million has been put aside for its revival.

• 10 Dec 2002 - Walter and Albertina Sisulu’s daughter-in-law, Elinor, launched their biography In our Lifetime at Roodepoort.

• 5 May 2003 - Walter Sisulu died.