05 September,02
The South African Communist Party (SACP) mourns the passing away of its stalwart and veteran Comrade Arnold Herbert Selby
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has learned with shock the news of the passing away of Comrade Arnold Herbert Selby, in Berlin Germany on the 27th August, 2002, He died after a short illness 10 months after he underwent heart operation in a military hospital in Berlin . Comrade Selby was born on the 14th October, 1918.
He became a member of the SACP in early 1940’s, when He was the Secretary General of Textile Workers Union. He became part of the Editorial for the “New Age” publication, which was an Independent paper but carried a lot of the SACP views. This paper had people like Comrade Ruth First as its reporter. After participating in the war against Hittler under the banner of the South African armed forces he was discharged owing to his poor eyesight. Comrade Selby was a veteran of our liberation movement. In 1953 he was banned by the Apartheid Government as a result of the notorious Suppression of Communism Act of 1950. He was restricted or banned from participating in any trade union even acting as just a functionary. He then became a full-time journalist for the “New Age” Newspaper.
In 1960, after 21March , Sharpeville massacre he was advised by the movement leadership to leave the country . He then fled to Ghana where he met and got married to Comrade Jeanette Lorna Thomas. Given his experience in the labor movement he worked closely with Ghana trade unions. Soon after that he left again for East Germany on invitation from the Free German Trade Union, and became a lecturer at the East German Trade Union College from 1961 till 1964, In 1964 - till 1984 he became the Editor of the Radio Berlin International in the Africa Section. He retired and at the age of 66. He passed away at the age of 83 , He is survived by his wife Jeanette Lorna Thomas, stepdaughter Lorna and a grandson Albert, in Germany.
As the South African Communist Party, we salute the role Comrade Selby played in our struggle for democracy, it is through the tireless efforts of comrades like him that we are a democratic country today. We wish to express our heartfelt condolences to his family and close Comrades. We shall honour and treasure his memory by continuing with the struggle to deepen the NDR as the direct route to building socialism.
CONTACT
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara (surname Jara)
Media, Information and Publicity (SACP)
South African Communist Party
Tel : (011) 339-3621/2 Fax : (011) 3394244/6880
Cell : 083 651 0271
Email – mazibuko@sacp.org.za
05 September,02