Won bi ni Engcobo to wa ni Transkei (to je apa Eastern Cape Province, Guusu Afrika loni). Iya re Alice Sisulu je olutoju ile, baba re, Victor Dickenson, je alawofunfun osise ijoba. O kuro ni Engcobo leyin eko re ni 1926, o si ko o si Johannesburg ni 1928 nibi to ti se orisirisi ise. O di omo egbe ANC ni 1940. Ni 1943, pelu Nelson Mandela ati Oliver Tambo, o di omo egbe ANC Youth League, ti Lembede dasile, to je akopo fun nibere. He later distanced himself from Lembede after Lembede (died 1947) had ridiculed his parentage (Sisulu was the son of a white foreman). Sisulu was a brilliant political networker and had a prominent planning role in the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (""Spear of the Nation""). He was made secretary general of the ANC in 1949, displacing the more passive older leadership, and held that post until 1954.