Sheila Sisulu

Sheila Sisulu began her public career in education, working as a high school teacher before taking positions in organisations challenging South Africa’s unequal schooling system. She earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland and later a Bachelor of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand. ^{1, 4}

From 1978 to 1988 she worked for the South African Committee for Higher Education. She then coordinated the South African Council of Churches’ African Bursary Fund and, from 1991 to 1994, directed the Joint Enrichment Project, a youth service organisation. After the democratic transition, she became special adviser to the minister of education. Her responsibilities included gender equity, youth development, and early childhood care and education. ^{1, 4}

Sisulu entered diplomatic service as consul general in New York in 1997. She presented her ambassadorial credentials to Bill Clinton on 19 April 1999, calling for economic and personal connections that would help South Africans share in the material benefits of democracy. ¹

In early 2003 she joined the World Food Programme as deputy executive director, overseeing policy and external affairs. She later became its deputy executive director for hunger solutions, continuing in senior leadership until 2013. Sisulu subsequently served as chancellor of Walter Sisulu University until 2023. The University of the Free State awarded her an honorary doctorate in April 2026 in recognition of her work in education, diplomacy, and food security. ^{2, 3, 5}