By Bernadette Wicks.
Veteran journalist and political editor Paddy Harper has died at the age of 60.
In a statement on Saturday afternoon, his family said: “It’s with much sadness and heartbreak that the family of William Harper, known to the world as Paddy Harper, announces his passing away.”
“He was loved by many, a titan of the journalism industry, with a career that spanned decades. Paddy was guided by an unimpeachable moral compass and a deep compassion, which led him to become a champion for those who didn’t have a voice,” the statement continued.
Harper is survived by his wife, Zandile, his mother, Winnie, his sister Annabel, and his three sons, Lindo, Thomas, and Mitchell.
His loved ones asked for privacy during this time.
“Our hearts go out to all those impacted by this loss as we mourn this bastion of truth, justice, and accountability,” they said.
Harper was the political editor of the Mail & Guardian at the time of his death.
In a report, the newspaper said staff were “devastated” and their thoughts were “with his family and loved ones”.
“Paddy was an incredible and fearless journalist. But he was so much more than that to all of us who had the privilege of working with him. He was a loyal friend that touched so many of our lives. You would have never heard him say a bad word about anyone, and you’ll struggle further still to find anyone who has a bad word to say about him,” Luke Feltham, the acting editor-in-chief of The Mail & Guardian, told News24.
“As much as his work ruffled the halls of power, his dedication to the truth earned him respect in all corners of Parliament. He was a gentleman in the purest sense of the word. We will miss him dearly.”
Over the course of his decades-long career – which started in the 1980s – Harper wrote for various titles, including The Mercury, the Post newspaper, The New African newspaper, the Sunday Tribune, the Sunday Times, and City Press.
He also worked as a media coordinator for Cosatu in the 1990s and co-authored the book The Lighter Side of Life on Robben Island: Banter, Pastimes and Boyish Tricks.
Harper and journalist Sipho Masondo, who is now based at News24, won the prestigious Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism in 2015. The pair were working for City Press at the time, and their winning story – “How Sadtu decimates our education system, one school at a time” – exposed how the South African Democratic Teachers Union was allegedly selling top teaching posts at the country’s schools.
City Press editor-in-chief Mondli Makhanya, under whom Harper previously worked at both City Press and the Sunday Times, described him as “the quintessential journalist” and “a madman who would go into dangerous situations when normal people would rather be diving for cover and then regale colleagues and friends about the incident in the bar afterwards amidst roars of loud laughter”.
“He was undoubtedly one of the foremost experts on the politics of KwaZulu-Natal, having covered the conflict there in the 1980s and 1990s and also having had the ringside seat to the establishment of the post-apartheid order in that province. He could easily navigate between the ANC and IFP and had contacts at the very highest and lowest levels in both parties,” said Makhanya.
He said he would have enduring memories “of the gregarious raconteur at the long drinking sessions at the Rhino Bar in Ulundi during the IFP’s annual conferences”.
“He and other KwaZulu-Natal journalists mingled easily with feared men and got us invited to braais with the most notorious warlords in the province,” Makhanya said.
As Harper’s former editor, Makhanya also said he would “treasure the great stories he broke”.
The executive director of the South African National Editors’ Forum, Reggy Moalusi, said they were saddened by the news.
Moalusi said: His passing was very untimely and very much unexpected.
“We extend our condolences to his family and to his colleagues at the Mail & Guardian and to their colleagues who worked with him at the Sunday Times and City Press.”
Tributes have also been pouring in on social media, with Daily Maverick associate editor Ferial Haffejee posting on X that Harper was “a fine writer with the most wicked sense of humour and a wonderful approach to journalism and to life”.
“Durban, our country and craft are poorer without your eye,” Haffejee wrote.