A tribute to Paul Daphne

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Daphne was ethical and incorruptible. He espoused the true values of the  post-apartheid South Africa

The North West Province has lost a great and humble giant in the person of Paul Daphne. For as long as I knew him, Paul was a selfless, committed, dedicated and true revolutionary, absolutely focussed on the massive task of emancipating the oppressed people of South Africa, and he spent a large part of his life serving the people of the North West province. Paul displayed and personified the values highlighted in the ANC Constitution that “…I will abide by the aims and objectives of the ANC, the Freedom Charter and other duly adopted policy positions…”; the principles of the country’s Constitution committing to a non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous, democratic South Africa; and as a career public servant, he consistently demonstrated dedication to high standards of public service that is developmental in its character, and underpinned by a strong, ethical culture.

His commitment to the ANC’s ideals as propounded by our founding leaders were consistently matched by his sincere approach to service delivery in government, a rare feature indeed if one looks at the culture of factionalism, selfishness, greed and looting that one sees in many parts of our public service today.

Perhaps what would be of use to those who remain in the public service is for us who have worked closely with Paul in the ANC as well as in government, to craft a characterisation or profile of what a true public servant should be like, based on the values he espoused. I am talking of a public servant who would liberate us from the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment; a public servant who would recognise the urgency of tackling crime, providing basic services such as water and sanitation, housing, infrastructure development and maintenance, resolving our energy crisis, etc. South Africa is currently in a parlous state and North West, in particular, is well known for its instability, in-fighting, looting and general chaos. Our province does not enjoy any respect wherever you go in the country and beyond. We are in desperate need of Paul Daphne functionaries in the entire fabric of our state machinery.

Paul was a committed ANC activist as well as a public service “revocrat”. He was not an unduly politicised senior manager, but a highly politically sensitive senior official. His management and application of government prescripts were underpinned by his deep understanding and appreciation of the urgency to tackle poverty. He was not a mechanical, rules-driven bureaucrat. To him prescripts were meant to enable and accelerate the war on poverty, inequality and unemployment, not to hinder it.

I met Paul in the 1980s when we were both lecturers at the University of Bophuthatswana. We both served in the Staff Association, which I led upon succeeding Dr Naledi Pandor. By the way, when I was elected President of the Staff association, Paul became the Secretary. We both joined UDUSA (Union of Democratic Staff Associations), an affiliate of COSATU. Around the same time, Paul, I and several other activists formed the Mafikeng Anti-Repression Forum (MAREF). Political conditions in Bophuthatswana at the time demanded that change be urgently addressed. Clearly, there were similar developments in the country and in exile. The harsh repressive practices perpetrated by the brutal security forces in Bophuthatswana worked very hard to isolate us from the rest of South Africa, and we had to creatively find ways of engaging in activism, despite these forces. Another structure we became part of was the Anti Bophuthatswana Coordinating Committee (ABCC) that linked us directly to the UDF in South Africa.

One driving force behind the work we were doing was Paul’s then wife, Laura Taylor. She was simply a powerhouse. She was very effective and efficient in the engine room, supporting and leading our various political programmes. In anticipation of Tata Mandela’s release, Laura bought large pieces of black, green and gold material which she sewed into a massive flag on the night of Saturday 10 February 1990.

I had been insisting that the time was ripe for us to launch the first-ever ANC branch, because we had been doing a lot of groundwork. As a result, we were given the go-ahead to accelerate preparations for the establishment of an ANC branch. To give effect to this, we held a critical meeting at Cooke’s Lake. This meeting resolved to establish an ANC branch, and this decision came to be affectionately known as the Cooke’s Lake Minute.

Mafikeng fell within the Northern Cape region of the ANC at that stage, and the first thing we did was to travel to the newly opened ANC office in Vryburg, where we met with Cde Jomo Khasu, the regional organiser for the ANC. The five of us joined and returned to Mafikeng with a load of membership cards and joining forms.

One major breakthrough that is worth highlighting came when we managed to smuggle membership forms into the Rooigrond Prison and to recruit Sergeant Timothy Phiri and about 130 former members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force who were serving time for their role in the abortive coup of 1988. They joined en masse and we released a statement that they had joined the branch. The authorities reacted with rage and indignation, claiming that it was impossible for these prisoners to have joined, as they were being held in the maximum security section of the prison.

For the establishment of an ANC branch it was necessary for over 100 paid up members to be present at a launch meeting. Given that ANC meetings were being broken up by the police throughout Bophuthatswana, it was decided that the best strategy would be to have an “underground” launch of the branch with the required 100 members and, then to announce the launch to the public. The intention was not to operate as an underground structure, but rather to ensure that the launch could succeed and then to operate and recruit openly thereafter. 

Dr David Green, a Mafikeng doctor and a member of the branch, offered his surgery, which had a large enough space to be used as a meeting venue, and the date was set for the night of Monday 20 August. The plan was for comrades to meet in small groups and then to travel together to the surgery. All communication was done one-on-one by word of mouth in order to try and ensure maximum secrecy.

The plan went off like clockwork. At the appointed time 110 enthusiastic but disciplined paid-up members of the Mafikeng ANC were crowded into David Green’s surgery, and the Mafikeng ANC was re-born almost 30 years after the people’s movement had been banned across the county by the apartheid government. The meeting did not have to go on for long. I gave a report on recruitment where I explained the strategy that had underpinned the decision to hold a secret launch, and further indicated that we had indeed slowed taking on new members prior to the launch in order to contain our exposure and security risk. Jomo Khasu addressed the meeting and indicated that the Pretoria Minute, which had been signed between the ANC and the apartheid government applied to every inch of South Africa and Mafikeng was no exception. He went on to indicate that despite the signing of the Pretoria Minute, it was necessary to build structures for the defence of the people as the tyranny of apartheid was continuing in many parts of the country.

Cde Jomo presided over the election of office bearers and a nine-member executive was elected comprising myself (Job Mokgoro), Chairperson; Paul Daphne, Secretary; Mandla Magwetyana, Treasurer and a further six executive members whose portfolios would be finalised at a later date. These six members were Silas Mbipha, Thaka Seboka, Kaelo Maropefela, Mmoloki Legodu and the late Jane Matsomela.  As the newly elected Chairperson, I closed the meeting with a short but stirring speech in which I indicated that we were not asking anyone to be allowed to exercise our democratic rights, but we were taking these rights with both hands and would proceed to exercise them in building the ANC in Mafikeng and in bringing the democratic project to a logical conclusion in that part of the country. On 24 August 1990, almost 33 years ago, we surprised (and shocked some) everybody when we appeared on the front page of Mafikeng Mail under the title “ANC launched in Mmabatho”.

After the 1994 elections I was appointed Director General, and Paul Deputy Director General in the Office of the Premier, serving under Dr Popo Molefe.

In the new democratically elected government, MPLs were housed at the Ministerial residence where ministers in the Bophuthatswana cabinet had lived. They were charged a paltry sum of R120. For some strange reason they refused to pay. I was highly embarrassed by this behavior, as it was a very bad way to usher in a democratic dispensation. Paul and I were housed at the embassy and had to pay about R200. I discussed this issue with him, and we both agreed that on the basis of some assessment of the houses we were living in, we should pay R1 200, just to lead by example, and we could be reimbursed later. We never bothered to claim back our money, for after all, we had to lead by example. That is the Paul our province has lost, that is the comrade we no longer have, the advisor we now have to do without. But his values live on. Let us document them, and have them inform us on how to renew our institutions. 

My condolences to his family, including his fiancé Disa Ramagaga, his children Daniel and Matthew; foster children Jeana, Tshidi and Itumeleng; his brothers Jeremy and Robert; and his ex-wife Laura.

May his revolutionary spirit rest in peace.

Professor Tebogo Job Mokgoro