The North West province has lost a great and humble giant in the person of Paul Daphne. For as long as I have known him, Daphne has been a selfless, committed, dedicated and true revolutionary, focused on the task of emancipating the oppressed people. He spent a large part of his life serving the people of the 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.
Perhaps what would be of use to those who remain in the public service is for us who have worked closely with Daphne 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 and resolving our energy crisis.
South Africa is in a parlous state, and North West, in particular, is known for its instability, in-fighting, looting and general chaos.
I met Daphne 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.
Political conditions in Bophuthatswana at the time demanded that change be urgently addressed. The harsh repressive practices perpetrated by 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.
One driving force behind the work we were doing was then Daphne’s wife, Laura Taylor. She was a powerhouse, effective and efficient in the engine room supporting and leading our various political programmes. In anticipation of Tata Mandela’s release, Taylor bought large
pieces of black, green and gold material, which she sewed into a massive flag.
After the 1994 elections I was appointed director-general, and Daphne deputy director-general in the office of then premier Popo Molefe
In the new democratically elected government, members of provincial legislature were housed at the ministerial residence (where ministers in the Bophuthatswana cabinet lived).
They were charged a paltry sum of R120 a month. For some strange reason they refused to pay. I was highly embarrassed by this behaviour, as it was a bad way to usher in a democratic dispensation.
Daphne and I were housed at the embassy and had to pay about R200 a month. I discussed this spectacle 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.
That is the Daphne our province has lost – that is the comrade we no longer have, the adviser we now have to do without.
But his values live on.
My condolences to his family, including his fiancé, Disa Ramagaga, his children Daniel and Matthew, foster children, Jeana, Tshidi and Itumeleng, and his brothers.
