Shaka Sisulu | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Leipzig, Germany |
| Nationality | South African |
| Education | Gordon Institute of Business Science |
| Occupation(s) | Media personality, entrepreneur, social and political activist |
| Relatives |
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| Website | shakasisulu |
Shaka Sisulu is a South African social and political activist, entrepreneur and media personality.
Shaka Sisulu has co-founded and worked in various media and IT ventures, including the telecommunications wing of $300m ITEC group. [1] In 2006, he co-founded Cheesekids for Humanity, popularly known as Cheesekids, a 20,000 strong volunteer movement. [2] In conjunction with his alma mater, Gordon's Institute of Business Science (GIBS), Shaka co-hosted and facilitated a number of dialogue circles - A Conversation with Kgalema Mothlanthe (2008), Undecided Voters Forum (2009), The Dinner Club (2010), Qiniso (2011) - that brought together youth of highly diverse backgrounds and political persuasions with a view to build- ing bridges for the future. [3] He has given talks on business, and entrepreneurship at Levis’ Pioneer Nation, Awethu Incubator and THUD Joburg. [4] Between 2009 and 2011 Shaka served as a founding trustee of the Foundation for a Safe South Africa. [5] Shaka served on the board of Lovelife for 6 years from 2010. Lovelife has been South Africa's most successful and longest-running teen HIV/AIDS prevention organization. [6] In 2015, following outbreaks of xenophobic attacks across South Africa, Shaka and fellow social commentator Khaya Dlanga led the Peace Bus initiative to spread goodwill between South Africans and foreigners, particularly from the continent. [7]
Shaka Sisulu has embarked on two Kilimanjaro expeditions for charitable causes, in 2012 and 2015. [8] Since the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict, Shaka has been an outspoken campaigner for the rights of the Palestinian people, denouncing the war, and advocating for Israel's withdrawal from the Occupied Territories. [9]
Shaka has served in various political structures of the African National Congress (ANC) including an appointment to the interim ANC Youth League leadership (National Task Team) following its disbandment in 2013. He has also served on the ANC's Communications Sub-Committee and on policy teams at the 2015 ANC National General Council, and serves on the sub-committee for communications in Gauteng province. [10]
Shaka Sisulu co-Founded #RacismMustFall in 2016 following a number of racist outbursts on social media, with the intent to leverage the law of the country and the constitution to litigate against racist public talk. [11] Shaka published his first book “Becoming” in 2012 as part of Pan Mac- Millan's “The Youngsters” series, which featured 6 popular South African youth figures. [12] In 2015, he narrated and featured in a documentary, Tribute to the Front-line States, which examined the role of South Africa's neighbours in the fight against Apartheid. [13] In 2016 Shaka received a Mahatma Gandhi Satyagraha Award for his contribution to youth development in South Africa. [14] In his childhood Shaka was a pioneer representative to Angola and Congo, Brazzaville for the ANC's pioneer organization - Masupatsela a Walter Sisulu. This organization would in 2016 become very vocal about the state of the ANC today. [15] Shaka is currently executive Chair at both Plum Factory and Retroviral, two digital agencies that count brands such as Multichoice, Hollard, Russell Hobbs, Nedbank, RoccoMamas, Viacom amongst their respective clients. These agencies are part of a Digital Marketing and Technology Services Group that Sisulu is developing. [16]
Shaka has cameoed as a judge for two seasons of youth development TV show; One Day Leader; and as a mentor for youth development TV show, Future Leaders on South Africa's largest TV station. [17]
Shaka was until recently part of a weekly commentary panel show, Trending SA on the national broadcaster SABC 3 with a daily viewership exceeding 500,000. [18]
The Day of Reconciliation is a public holiday in South Africa held annually on 16 December. The holiday came into effect in 1995 after the end of apartheid, with the intention of fostering reconciliation and national unity for the country. Recognising the need for racial harmony, the government chose the date for its significance to both Afrikaner and indigenous South African cultures. The celebration of the Day of Reconciliation can take the form of remembering past history, recognising veteran's contributions, marching, and other festivities.
Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), he was Accused No.2 in the Rivonia Trial and was incarcerated on Robben Island where he served more than 25 years' imprisonment for his anti-Apartheid revolutionary activism. He had a close partnership with Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, with whom he played a key role in organising the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the establishment of the ANC Youth League and Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was also on the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.
Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu OMSG was a South African anti-apartheid activist, and the wife of fellow activist Walter Sisulu (1912–2003). She was affectionately known as "Ma Sisulu" throughout her lifetime by the South African public. In 2004 she was voted 57th in the SABC3's Great South Africans. She died on 2 June 2011 in her home in Linden, Johannesburg, South Africa, aged 92.
Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and activist who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991.
The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa in December 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conference. The demonstrations, taking place in 1952, were the first "large-scale, multi-racial political mobilization against apartheid laws under a common leadership."
Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada OMSG, sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist.
The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) was a South African popular front that existed from 1983 to 1991. The UDF comprised more than 400 public organizations including trade unions, students' unions, women's and parachurch organizations. The UDF's goal was to establish a "non-racial, united South Africa in which segregation is abolished and in which society is freed from institutional and systematic racism." Its slogan was "UDF Unites, Apartheid Divides." The Front was established in 1983 to oppose the introduction of the Tricameral Parliament by the white-dominated National Party government, and dissolved in 1991 during the early stages of the transition to democracy.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC). As set out in its constitution, the ANC Youth League is led by a National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (NWC).
The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was an important force for liberalism and later radicalism in South African student anti-apartheid politics. Its mottos included non-racialism and non-sexism.
The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) was an umbrella body founded in 1921 to coordinate between political organisations representing Indians in the various provinces of South Africa. Its members were the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), and, initially, the Cape British Indian Council. It advocated non-violent resistance to discriminatory laws and in its formative years was strongly influenced by the NIC's founder, Mahatma Gandhi.
Lindiwe Nonceba Sisulu is a South African politician. She was member of parliament from 1994 until 2023, and is a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress as of 2023. She previously served as Minister of Housing, as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Minister of Public Service and Administration, Minister of Human Settlements from, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation and Minister of Tourism.
Yasmin "Jessie" Duarte was a South African politician and acting secretary-general of the African National Congress. A longtime anti-apartheid activist, she served variously as a special assistant to Nelson Mandela, a member of the provincial cabinet (MEC) for Gauteng, as ambassador to Mozambique, and as spokesperson for the ANC, before assuming her post as Deputy Secretary-General of the ANC in 2012, until her death on 17 July 2022.
Racism in South Africa can be traced back to the earliest historical accounts of interactions between African, Asian, and European peoples along the coast of Southern Africa. It has existed throughout several centuries of the history of South Africa, dating back to the Dutch colonization of Southern Africa, which started in 1652. Before universal suffrage was achieved in 1994, White South Africans, especially Afrikaners during the period of Apartheid, enjoyed various legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights that were denied to the indigenous African peoples. Examples of systematic racism over the course of South Africa's history include forced removals, racial inequality and segregation, uneven resource distribution, and disenfranchisement. Racial controversies and politics remain major phenomena in the country.
Anton Muziwakhe Lembede OLG was a South African activist and founding president of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). He has been described as "the principal architect of South Africa's first full-fledged ideology of African nationalism." Lembede had a strong influence on Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo. Lembede was regarded as the progenitor of the "Programme of Action" that was adopted as a guiding document by the 1949 meeting of the African National Congress. He died in 1947, aged 33.
The South African Youth Revolutionary Council (SAYRCO) was a South African political organisation. SAYRCO profiled itself as a 'third force' in the anti-Apartheid struggle. It was associated with the Black Consciousness Movement.
Zwelakhe Sisulu was a South African black journalist, editor, and newspaper founder. He was president of the Writers' Association of South Africa, which later became the Black Media Workers Association of South Africa, and he led a year-long strike in 1980 for fair wages for black journalists. Under apartheid, he was imprisoned at least three times for his journalism. After apartheid ended, he became the chief executive officer of the South African Broadcast Corporation.
AfriForum is a South African non-governmental organisation which mainly focuses on the interests of Afrikaners, a subgroup of the country's white population. AfriForum has been described as a "white nationalist, alt-right, and Afrikaner nationalist group", though this description is rejected by the organisation's leadership, who refer to themselves as a civil rights group.
Antisemitism in South Africa is the manifestation of hostility, prejudice or discrimination against South African Jews or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. This form of racism has affected Jews since South Africa's Jewish community was established in the 19th century.
Robben Island Prison is an inactive prison on Robben Island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometers (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. Since then, three former inmates of the prison have gone on to become President of South Africa.