TRIBUTE TO COMNRADE PADDY KEARNEY – WHO CONTRIBUTED ENORMOUSLY TO THE STRUGGLES FOR A NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRARTIC SOUTH AFRICA

(Paddy with Archbishop Denis HURLEY and Chris Nicholson in the background after he was released 17 days in 1985)

(PADDY KEARNEY (CENTRE) WITH BISHOP RUBIN PHILIP AND SWAMINATHAN GOUNDEN) November 24 2018

(PADDY KEARNEY WITH JOURNALIST WIFE CARMEL RICKARD) One of the activists who worked with churches to promote the struggle against apartheid, Paddy Kearney, has passed on in Durban on Friday, November 23 (2018) at the age of 76. Kearney, who was the Director of the Diakonia Council of Churches for 28 years, was one of the “behind the scenes” activists who contributed enormously to the struggles against apartheid and white minority rule. Veteran journalist, Subry Govender, who befriended the social activist since the early 1970s, profiled the life of Kearney, who at the time of his death was chairperson of the Denis Hurley Centre Trust.

(PADDY KEARNEY CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DIAKONIA WITH MEMBERS OF HIS STAFF) It was in the mid-1980s when the struggle against apartheid was being heightened on all fronts that Paddy Kearney became a strong "behind-the-scenes" activist. At this time, he was the Director of the Diakonia Council of Churches which he had spearheaded at the request of the late Catholic Archbishop, Denis Hurley, in 1974.

(PADDY KEARNEY ADDRESSING A MEETING AT DIAKONIA IN DURBAN) “My entry into anti-apartheid activism had a great boost when M J Naidoo, who was president of the Natal Indian Congress at that time, recruited me into the Release Mandela Campaign,” Paddy Kearney told me in an interview. In addition to M J Naidoo, Paddy Kearney also came under the influence of leaders of the calibre of Dr Beyers Naude, founder of the Christian Institute and one of the General Secretaries of the South African Council of Churches; as well as Archie Gumede and Griffith Mxenge, who were also involved with the Release Mandela Campaign at that time. Born in Pietermaritzburg in August 1942 to parents who were descendants of Irish immigrants, Paddy Kearney from an early age came under the influence of the Catholic faith.

(PADDY KEARNEY ADDRESSING A MEETING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NATAL) But his social and political awareness took shape when the father of apartheid, Hendrik Verwoerd, wanted to introduce a law that would require black people to apply for permits to attend churches in so-called white group areas. “Archbishop Hurley wrote against this and other apartheid evils in his pastoral letters that were read out at St Mary’s Church in Pietermaritzburg. I was still a young school boy when it became clear to me that the Archbishop was saying that apartheid was totally unacceptable. That was very interesting to me because here was a leading figure in the Church who was saying that what the government was doing was fundamentally wrong. I was very proud of him because he spoke out so strongly against apartheid.”

(Paddy being watched by two of his staff members while a security policeman take him away in 1985)

(PADDY KEARNEY WITH MEMBERS OF HIS STAFF AFTER BEING RELEASED FROM DETENTION IN 1985)

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(PADDY KEARNEY WITH HIS POARENTS AFTER GRADUATING AS A TEACHER) Paddy Kearney was first jolted to do something practical about the apartheid situation when he was a teacher at the Inanda Seminary, north of Durban, in 1971. He was teaching English and one of the set books was Macbeth. At this time Macbeth was being presented at the Alhambra Theatre in Durban and Paddy Kearney wanted to take his pupils to watch the play but he could not do so because the show was restricted to whites only. “It made me take action and I wrote a letter to the Daily News complaining that I was unable to take my pupils to watch the play because of the apartheid system. The actors, some of whom had come from Britain, read that article and they phoned me at the school and said they had no idea that people were being restricted from seeing the play. They said ‘We will come and present it at Inanda Seminary and you can invite all the black schools in Durban who are studying Macbeth to come there and we will give them an outdoor performance for free’. We made all the arrangements and hundreds of children sat on the lawns of the school grounds following the play with their set books open.”

After spending a year at Inanda Seminary, Paddy Kearney went to the United States as a Fullbright Scholar during the 1972-1973 academic year when he obtained his Masters Degree. After his return, he lectured at the University of Natal for three years. At the same time he worked closely with Archbishop Hurley as a member of the Catholic Church's Justice and Peace Commission. It was during this period that he was asked by Archbishop Hurley to set up Diakonia. He did all the preparatory work for the establishment of the organisation but without any intention of becoming involved on a full-time basis.

(Paddy Kearney at amemorial service for Ahmed Kathrada in 2016 that was disrupted by ANC Youth league members) “I said to the Archbishop, okay I will help you get it started, I will do the secretarial work, I will call and facilitate the meetings and then we will find someone to be in charge. We did all of that and found a person to whom we offered the job. But she turned down the offer. I had a re-think after this and told the Archbishop that I will take up the position of Co-ordinator of Diakonia but I had no idea that I would still be in that position 28 years later!” It was during the mid-1980s that Paddy Kearney became involved with organisations such as the Natal Indian Congress, Detainees Parents Support Committee, Release Mandela Campaign and the United Democratic Front. It was no surprise when he came under the scrutiny of the dreaded security police at that time and was detained in 1985 for 17 days. He was released from detention by a court order in what became known as the “Hurley case” because Archbishop Hurley was the one who brought an application for Paddy’s release, with the help of Chris Nicholson, then Director of the Legal Resource Centre.

“We always had worship on Monday mornings at Diakonia and I was getting ready for that when someone came to the door and said that the security police were looking for me. Before I could respond, the security policemen rushed in. A Captain Van Sittert told me that they had come to arrest me. They then began looking into the rubbish bin, pulling files down from the cupboards and causing a commotion. They then took me to my flat to look for things there and thereafter drove me to C R Swart Square Police headquarters. I was interrogated there for the next 17 days, but held at the La Lucia Police Station.”

(Paddy Kearney participating in the Gandhi Salt March in Durban Like other anti-apartheid activists, Paddy Kearney also looked forward to the advent of the new democracy in April 1994. As Director of Diakonia, Paddy Kearney played a major role in preparing the flock to vote in the elections. “We had been preparing for it you know for two years at Diakonia and doing a lot of work of bringing together not only church groups but all NGOs who were interested in promoting democracy.

(Paddy Kearney with the Active Citizens Movement in 2017) “We started doing programmes in education for democracy, voter education, and preparing people to be observors and monitors. We also were training people to work with visitors who came from overseas to witness the elections. It was a culmination of a long period of preparation for people to get ready for the elections.” Paddy Kearney stepped down from Diakonia in 2004 after serving the organisation for 28 years as a full-time staff member, after two years as a volunteer. After his retirement he researched and wrote the biography of Archbishop Denis Hurley titled "Guardian of the Light" which was launched in Durban in August 2009. Paddy Kearney continues to be involved as a consultant to the KwaZulu-Natal Christian Council, as well as Chair of the Gandhi Development Trust and of the Denis Hurley Centre Trust.

(Paddy Kearney with Dr Dilly Naidoo(second from right) with Farouk Meer, Sunny Singh, Swaminathan Gounden, Paddy Kearney and Bishop Reuben Philip) Twenty three years into our new democracy, Paddy Kearney believes that South Africans should be ever vigilant and speak out against injustice and corruption. He's also of the view that it's only through proper vigilance that the values of the struggle era can be protected and enhanced. “I think we have to be very vigilant. You know the struggle for democracy is never over. As soon as you start relaxing or become complacent, then I think problems can arise in the country and that’s the very difficult situation in which we find ourselves now. Over the past few years I think we have not been sufficiently vigilant and so we have lost something of the moral fibre that had been part of the struggles for a democratic South Africa.” He has also been a regular at non-government meetings and in organisations where concerned people have expressed their disquiet at the current socio-economic and political state of the country under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma. Paddy was one of the activists who attended the recent official launch of the non-government forum, Active Citizens Movement(ACM), of which he is a patron together with Judge Thumba Pillay, Dr Albertina Luthuli, Professor Jerry Coovadia and Zuleika Mayet. “I am happy that over the past year or so we have seen something of the tide turning against leaders who have lost their morals, values and principles.

(Paddy Kearney With Jean-Marie Ntamubano, a refugee from Burundi who is now the Manager of the Denis Hurley Centre.) Paddy Kearney made this statement at a time when former President Zuma had failed the country after allegations had been made that he was caught up in corruption and had come under the influence of certain people who were only interested in furthering their own interests. He would no doubt now be pleased that President Cyril Ramaphosa is trying his utmost best to weed out the corrupt people in Government through the State Capture Commission being headed by Justice Zondo. It’s a huge task at re-building the values that were central to the anti-apartheid struggle. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com