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| John Daniel |
Professor John Daniel was
an internationally respected researcher and academic who first made his mark as
a young student activist, but he continued to be an inspiring mentor throughout
his life.
Born in Pietermaritzburg,
he earned his BA in political science from the University of Natal in 1964
while serving two terms as the president of the National Union of South African
Students (Nusas).
It was Daniel’s
invitation to United States politician Robert F Kennedy to visit South Africa
in 1966 that forced him into exile in 1968. “Not only was I impressed with
Kennedy’s speech in Jameson Hall [at the University of Cape Town],” recalled
academic and labour consultant Dr Duncan Innes, who succeeded Daniel as Nusas
president, “but I was even more impressed with John’s fighting speech that he
gave after Kennedy had spoken. To this day, I remember the powerful impact it
had on me and, truly, it changed my life.”
Daniel won fellowships to
study in the US, earning a master’s degree in international and African studies
from Western Michigan University and a PhD in political science from the State
University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. He then returned to Africa and
taught at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, where his students
included eventual South African Cabinet ministers such as Lindiwe Sisulu and
Nathi Mthethwa.
While chairing the
Swaziland scholarship committee for South African refugees and working with the
Geneva-based World University Service, Daniel continued his activist work in
support of the banned ANC.
He did so “without
fanfare or submitting to intrigue”, in the words of Horst Kleinschmidt, a
fellow Nusas activist. Daniel was deported from Swaziland when the Swazi
government banned the ANC in 1985, then spent a year as a research fellow at
the University of Amsterdam, and five years as Africa editor at Zed Books in
London.
Daniel returned to South
Africa in 1991 as a senior lecturer in international relations at Rhodes
University, and in 1993 was appointed chair of political science at the
University of Durban-Westville (UDW). From 1997 to 2000 he was a senior
researcher for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with a focus on
documenting human rights violations committed by the apartheid state.
In 2001 Daniel moved to
the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). He worked both as research director
on governance and democracy and established HSRC Press, co-founding and
co-editing the first four volumes of the bestselling State of the Nation series
with Professor Roger Southall.
“I perceived John, from
student days onwards, as someone whose profound political commitments were
undeterred by risk,” commented former HSRC head Dr Mark Orkin. “He chose
increasingly to express those commitments through scholarship of impeccable
integrity, not only his own but in generously collaborative ventures, and
through all this was unfailing patient, courteous, and wryly humorous, and
always ready for a beer and irreverent political gossip.”
Daniel retired from the
HSRC in 2006 and joined the School of International Training (SIT) in Durban,
taking over as academic director until 2011.
“John was the consummate
example of what we all strive for, but few ever attain,” noted Daniel’s
successor as SIT director, Imraan Buccus – also a former student of his at UDW.
“He had an unwavering commitment to justice and to ensure that all people
question alleged authority.”
Daniel’s greatest legacy
remains his interaction with his students, from exiled South Africans in
Swaziland in the 1970s to international scholars at SIT in Durban, until his
death from cancer in July 2014.
“John loved his country
for its imperfections and that love translated into living for something bigger
than himself,” recalled Filipino student Enzo Pinga, who studied at SIT under
Daniel in 2010. “The few months spent under his guidance shaped the person that
I am today.”
Daniel is survived by his
wife Cathy and his three children. – Julie Frederikse
