I was there in a lecture theatre in #UCT Upper Campus, in 1999, and I voted to merge the #SouthAfrican #DemocraticParty into the #NationalParty. I listened to #JamesSelfe, of blessed and lamented recent memory, argue against it, and I remember his huge and gracious smile when he lost the argument at the vote.

I remember talking to Ma Baker from #Ottery. I remember marvelling how the DP was channeling the hopes of working class activists who saw how their tough leverage could change things in the Western Cape.

I remember my wife Julia, a DP grey eminence no matter what she might have thought of that idea, readying the new #DemocraticAlliance for their first governments. Had she lived? No idea, so many might-have-beens.

I miss those days, and how I wish things had worked out differently. I FAFO, I freely admit.

Even in #SouthAfrica, most people won't know his name. But #JamesSelfe was an incredibly rare breed of politician. Working from a place or principle he effected real change over the long term, while remaining almost universally respected.

He won't get a statue. There won't be biographies written about him. But the world is much poorer for his passing.

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/da-stalwart-james-selfe-dies-aged-68-20240521