It is with great sadness that I hear of the passing of Professor Brian O’Connell.
Professor O’Connell was my lecturer during my postgraduate HDE diploma at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in the mid-1980s. He was a knowledgeable lecturer and later settled in my home-town of Strand, where he helped establish the Strand Community Forum (SCF). This was a broad-based community body that included churches, mosques, sports clubs, community-based organisations, community welfare bodies, religious entities, and more.
My late father, Toufiek Crombie, was a staunch SCF member and the treasurer at its inception. Other exco members included the late councillor Norah Juries, Wessel Badenhorst, Howard Meyer, John Pretorius (later a councillor), and many other community representatives such as the late George De Waal, Doreen Gardiner and Gairoe Daniels, as well as Willie Engelbrecht, and others.
Professor O’Connell, as chairperson, never let his academic standing interfere with the community work. He was grounded and approachable, allowing everyone to voice their opinions and contribute.
I joined the SCF a few months after its establishment and was elected as media and publicity secretary. It was at this point that I came to fully get a bird’s eye view of Brian O’Connell, the man. Despite his immense knowledge and obvious academic excellence, he never made anyone on the exco or in the meetings feel like lesser individuals. The chasm between us and him in terms of academic achievements was obviously immense. Despite this, he allowed everyone to voice their opinions and make contributions in a way that allowed us all to grow and become more astute. Professor O’Connell always gave context and direction through calm, measured, and incisive comments that made us all more motivated for the task at hand.
This was also the period in South African history when the State of Emergencies started to take its toll on our communities, and the draconian measures of the apartheid state became more severe. The SCF unabatedly continued its activities under the astute and calculated leadership of Prof O’Connell, then rector of the Peninsula Technicon, later renamed Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The leadership he exuded during such a depressing era in the country’s history was a clear demonstration of his ingenuity and resourcefulness, which became a hallmark and impeccable trademark of his tenure as SCF chairperson. We duly followed his directives, which were always well construed, thoroughly discussed, and well thought through. It was not long thereafter that the political landscape in our country started to move in a more engaging direction. We, the disadvantaged, were called upon to enter negotiations with the establishment on a local government level. Professor O’Connell once again took the leadership of an amalgam of non-statutory groups (as defined in the new political terminology of the time) and became the chairperson of this group.
He was instrumental in my role as a non-statutory negotiator alongside the late Advocate Peter Mopp and Nazeem Braaf. Professor O’Connell was always in the thick of developments whenever we entered discussions with the statutory councillors at the Strand, Gordon’s Bay, or Somerset West municipalities’ chambers.
Professor O’Connell was a gifted orator with extraordinary presentation skills. I recall an incident in the Strand council chambers where his oratory skills captivated the audience, including an Afrikaans-speaking councillor who was impressed by his command of the English language. His skills highlighted the fallacies of the apartheid order.
He later became the director general of education in the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), a position he held with distinction. He remained affable and grounded, eventually becoming the rector of UWC. His tenure at UWC allowed the university to gain prominence in the South African and African academic spheres. Professor O’Connell’s life was marked by tenacity, farsightedness, and visionary intent.
I will repay Professor O’Connell with the same compliment he gave me when he wrote in a reference letter for me: “He is no ivory tower intellectual but an individual who is fully grounded in community activism.” I wish to say touché, Professor O’Connell. I have been privileged to rub shoulders with you. Until we meet again.
I will always remember Professor O’Connell for his community activism and leadership. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
