07 September 2000
Fred Carneson , a staunch member of the Communist Party since 1936, passed away yesterday, 6 September 2000. The entire SACP membership mourns the passing of this loyal stalwart of the liberation struggle and the struggle for socialism. Our heartfelt condo lences are extended to the family, friends and comrades of Comrade Fred, especially to his wife and life long comrade, Sarah, their three children, Lynn, John and Ruth and their five grandchildren.
Fred Carneson was born in Goodwood in 1920 in a wood and iron house with no electricty, the bucket sanitary system and well drawn water. One of nine children in a working class family, Fred was made acutely aware of class oppression, exploitation and pover ty by his life experience. A bursary, which Fred won at school, had to be forfeited because his family could not afford for him to continue his education.
Comrade Fred was a worker, an activist and a soldier, who fought against the Fascists and Nazis in WWII and the racists in South Africa thereafter. His entire life has been dedicated to the Party, the ANC and the struggle against apartheid and capitalism. After his discharge from the army Fred became a full-time activist, first working with the Springbok Legion and soon after as the fulltime Secretary of the Cape District between 1946 and 1950. He also worked to organise the Party underground after it's iss olution in 1950. At various times he held the positions of member of the Central Committee, member of the National Executive Committee, National Treasurer and was a full-time functionary at the time of his arrest in 1965. He was also a candidate for the pa rty in the 1948 election and was elected to the Cape provincial Council by African voters in 1949.
Comrade Fred also worked for the Guardian newspaper from 1952 until 1963, when Spark as it was then known, was finally closed down by the apartheid regime. He served first as the editor and later as business manager for the paper.
A thorn in the side of the racist regime, Fred was arrested in 1946 and charged for sedition in connection with the African Mine workers strike. He was again arrested in 1956 and charged as one of the 156 in the Treason trial. Comrade Fred joined Umkhonto We Sizwe at its foundation and served as a political commissar. In 1965 he was again arrested, detained under the 180 day Act and charged under the Suppression of Communism Act. He was sentenced to 5years and 9months in prison and was released in 1972. He left the country to join his family and continue his political work against the racist regime in the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the ANC and the SACP. While in exile Fred worked full-time for the National Union of Teachers and chaired the Trade Union Committe e of the Anti Apartheid Movement.
On his return to the country in 1991, Fred immediately took up the struggle once again. He served as the provincial Treasurer for the SACP from 1991 until 1996. He was also a local councillor on the interim local government structures in Cape Town until 19 95. Fred Carneson embodied the Alliance, working tirelessly to rid our country of racism and oppression while understanding the relationship between national oppression and class exploitation.
The Party salutes this loyal, dedicated, working class hero who gave his life to his people and his class in the struggle for a better world, free from poverty, crime, violence and ignorance, in short, for socialism. Comrade Fred will be cremated on the 16 September and a memorial service will be held for him on the same day.
CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information Publicity
South African Communist Party
COSATU House
No. 1 Leyds Street - 7th Floor
Braamfontein 2001
Republic of South Africa
Tel: 27 11 339-3621/2
Fax: 27 11 339-4244
Cell: 083 651 0271
Email: sacp@wn.apc.org