Struggle veteran Archie Sibeko celebrated
STRUGGLE veteran Archie Sibeko was last night remembered as a straightforward man who spoke his mind without fearing the consequences.
A memorial service for Sibeko, held at Community House in Salt River, was attended by ANC provincial stalwarts, including former premier Ebrahim Rasool, Pallo Jordan and Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich, and young members of the party.
Sibeko died at the age of 90 on March 27 at his London home after a long illness.
He was born on March 3, 1928, in Kwezana Village, near Alice, and attended Lovedale school, following which he moved to Cape Town where he became involved in the trade union movement alongside Oscar Mpetha and Ray Alexander Simons. He joined the South African Railway and Harbour Workers’ Union and became its secretary.
In 1955, he was one of the founder members of the South African Congress of Trade Unions, the first non-racial trade union federation in South Africa. Sibeko joined the ANC and the South African Communist Party in 1953, and was one of the accused in the Treason Trial in 1956.
To preserve his legacy and memory, ANC Youth League provincial chair Mohammed Khalid Sayed said Sibeko’s life and achievements would form part of workshops and political education programmes the league would launch next week. It was important young people documented the history of veterans.
“Our purpose here is not to talk but learn. We can only govern this province when we are well-informed politically. As young people we must not restrict our limits. The veterans are not going to always be with us; we need to take the baton.”
Rasool said Sibeko “had the ability to tell things as they were, not because he was arrogant but because he confronted situations as they happened”.
Jordan said he attended the service to celebrate Sibeko because he had led a fruitful life. “But we are obliged to share the pain, with the family, of losing someone they loved.”