By OBAKENG MAJE 

The heartfelt condolences messages continue to pour in after the death of the Democratic Alliance (DA) stalwart, James Selfe, who passed away late this afternoon. The DA leader, John Steenhuisen said Selfe departed peacefully, while surrounded by his family and loved ones, following a lengthy battle with illness.

Steenhuisen further said they would like to extend its sincerest condolences to those close to Selfe. He added that as DA, their thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Sheila and three daughters, Chloe, Stephanie and Emma during this difficult time.

“Selfe led a quietly influential life in contemporary South African political history, having made an immense contribution to South African democracy. In the late 70s and 80s, Selfe worked tirelessly as a researcher for the DA’s forerunner, the Progressive Federal Party, to combat divisive and regressive apartheid laws by the National Party in parliament. 

“He then served as the party’s communications director, later becoming an executive director. Upon his election to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in 1994, he served in the Constitutional Assembly, participating in the drawing up of South Africa’s democratic constitution,” said Steenhuisen. 

He said over his nearly 30-year parliamentary career, Selfe served on various portfolio committees, most notably the Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, where his oversight of South Africa’s judicial system was crucial to ensuring that fairness and accountability were always upheld in South African society. Steenhuisen said, however, it is Selfe’ work for his political home, the Democratic Party (DP) and later the Democratic Alliance (DA), which solidified his legacy as a true democratic stalwart. 

“Through his service to three federal leaders as the party’s first chairperson of the federal council, Selfe operationalised the establishment and fortification of the DA as South Africa’s formidable official opposition.

“Selfe help fine-tune the party’s systems and processes, tightening its federal constitution and turning the fast-growing DA into a modern, internationally-renowned African liberal party of rules and fairness,” he said.

Steenhuisen said more crucially, Selfe pioneered the DA’s lawfare programme responsible for some of the most groundbreaking legal judgements in post-democratic history, setting a variety of legal precedents, which strengthened public accountability in our young democracy.

He said from the Zuma spy tapes, to Nkandla, to blowing the whistle on state contracts awarded to Bosasa, Selfe led the charge against corruption and maladministration leveled against the South African people by some of the governing party’s most unethical figures. 

“Selfe was always committed to building and sustaining a democracy in which transparency and accountability would ensure that our government served its people, and not the politicians holding the reins.

‘In many ways, Selfe was a pioneer in South African opposition politics, because he was one of the first politicians in post-democratic history to begin the work of opposing the unfettered power of the ANC’s majority, and turn South Africa into a living, breathing democracy where the opposition took up its role as society’s ultimate watchdog,” said Steenhuisen. 

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