Walter Sisulu Arrested During the Defiance Campaign – 1952

On 12 August 1952, anti-apartheid leader Walter Sisulu was arrested during one of the most important periods of organised resistance to the apartheid government. Sisulu had joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1940 and became a leading figure in the organisation's younger, more activist generation. In 1944, he was elected to the executive committee of the newly formed ANC Youth League, alongside figures who would play a major role in South Africa's political future.

By 1949, Sisulu had become Secretary-General of the ANC and was instrumental in persuading the organisation to adopt the Youth League's more assertive Programme of Action. Following the National Party's election victory in 1948, apartheid was increasingly enforced through legislation controlling where South Africans could live, work, travel and gather. Sisulu became one of the organisers of resistance to these measures.

The Defiance Campaign

In 1952, the ANC and its allies launched the Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws, one of the first large-scale campaigns of non-violent resistance against apartheid. Volunteers deliberately contravened apartheid regulations, including racial restrictions governing railway facilities, entrances to public buildings, curfews and movement. More than 8,500 volunteers eventually participated in acts of civil disobedience across South Africa.

Sisulu played a prominent role in organising the campaign.

On 12 August 1952, he was arrested and subsequently subjected to restrictions under the Suppression of Communism Act. Later that year, Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, ANC president Dr James Moroka and other campaign leaders were tried for their involvement in the Defiance Campaign. They were convicted and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labour, although the sentences were suspended.

Did You Know?

The Suppression of Communism Act was used far more broadly than its name suggests. The apartheid government could apply its provisions to political opponents and organisations it considered a threat to the established racial order, even when they were not members of the Communist Party.

From the Defiance Campaign to Rivonia

Banning orders attempted to prevent Sisulu from attending political gatherings and participating openly in the ANC, but he continued his political work. He was later among the accused in the lengthy Treason Trial, which began in 1956. As government repression intensified following the Sharpeville massacre and the banning of the ANC in 1960, the liberation movement moved increasingly underground. Sisulu became involved with Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed organisation established in 1961.

In 1963, he was arrested and became one of the defendants in the Rivonia Trial alongside Nelson Mandela and other senior liberation leaders. In June 1964, Sisulu was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent many years incarcerated on Robben Island. He was released in 1989, after more than a quarter of a century in prison, and returned to political life during the negotiations that brought apartheid to an end.

Walter Sisulu and South Africa's Transition

Sisulu remained one of the ANC's most respected senior figures during South Africa's transition to democracy. His political partnership and friendship with Nelson Mandela stretched back over decades of activism, underground organisation, imprisonment and eventual political change. Although the arrest of 12 August 1952 was only one episode in his long political career, it came during a campaign that helped transform resistance to apartheid into a mass national movement.

Kimberley's Story Continues

The Defiance Campaign also has an important place in Kimberley's history. During 1952, residents of Kimberley participated in the national campaign against apartheid laws, with local activists deliberately challenging racial restrictions at places including the railway station. The campaign formed part of a growing tradition of political resistance in Kimberley that would involve figures such as Dr Arthur Letele, Frances Baard and Robert Sobukwe, placing the Diamond City firmly within South Africa's wider struggle against apartheid.