Reggie Oliphant
{{Short description|South African politician and activist (1948–2003)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| party = African National Congress
| office1 = Member of the National Assembly
| citizenship = South Africa
| birth_date = {{birth date|1948|01|17|df=yes}}
| birth_name = Reginald Oliphant
| birth_place = South Africa
| death_date = {{death date and age|2003|05|15|1948|01|17|df=yes}}
| death_place = Mitchells Plain, Cape Town
Western Cape, South Africa
| death_cause = Assassination by gunshot
| term1 = until June 1999
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=ZAR|OLS}}
}}
Reginald Oliphant (17 January 1948 – 15 May 2003) was a South African politician, journalist, and anti-apartheid activist. A teacher by profession, he rose to prominence in the civic movement of Oudtshoorn, where he founded a progressive community newspaper, Saamstaan. He was the Southern Cape chairperson of the United Democratic Front.
After the end of apartheid, Oliphant served briefly as deputy mayor of Oudtshoorn. He also briefly represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly during the first democratic Parliament. He was assassinated on the Cape Flats in an attempted hijacking in May 2003.
Early life and activism
Born on 17 January 1948,{{Cite web |date=26 May 1999 |title=General Notice: Electoral Commission Notice 1113 of 1999 – Final List of Candidates |url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/za/1999/za-government-gazette-dated-1999-05-26-no-20128.pdf |access-date=9 May 2023 |website=Government Gazette of South Africa |publisher=Government of South Africa |page=242 |publication-place=Pretoria, South Africa}} Oliphant was raised by his grandmother after both his parents died.{{Cite news |date=23 February 2005 |title=Wife of murdered MP makes impassioned plea |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/wife-of-murdered-mp-makes-impassioned-plea-234754 |access-date=26 May 2023}} A teacher by profession, he rose to political prominence as a civic activist in Bridgeton, a Coloured neighbourhood under the Oudtshoorn Local Municipality in the Cape Province.{{Cite web |title=Mr Reginald "Reggie" Oliphant (Posthumous) |url=https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/recipient/mr-reginald-%E2%80%9Creggie%E2%80%9D-oliphant-posthumous |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=The Presidency}} He was a founding member of the Bridgeton Civic Movement and a founder of and journalist for Saamstaan, a local newspaper in Oudtshoorn.{{Cite news |date=16 May 2003 |title=ANC shocked at ex-MP's 'senseless killing' |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/anc-shocked-at-ex-mps-senseless-killing-106499 |access-date=26 May 2023}} He was also the chairperson of the United Democratic Front in the Southern Cape region.{{Cite web |date=16 May 2023 |title=Former ANC MP shot dead |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/former-anc-mp-shot-dead-20030516 |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}
As a result of his civic organising, he was frequently harassed by the apartheid government: he was detained without trial on several occasions, faced multiple banning orders, and on one occasion was transferred by authorities to teach at a school in the isolated town of Kenhardt.{{Cite news |date=21 May 2003 |title=Manuel leads tributes to Reggie Oliphant |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/manuel-leads-tributes-to-reggie-oliphant-106724 |access-date=26 May 2023}}{{Cite web |date=1989-11-02 |title=Surprise 'warning' for New Nation |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1989-11-03-00-surprise-warning-for-new-nation/ |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=1988-02-25 |title=Pen portraits of a dozen of those banned yesterday |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1988-02-26-00-pen-portraits-of-a-dozen-of-those-banned-yesterday/ |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} In 1990, when the ANC was unbanned by the apartheid government, Oliphant was unanimously elected as the inaugural chairperson of the party's newly established branch in Oudtshoorn.
Post-apartheid career
After the first post-apartheid municipal elections in 1995, Oliphant was elected as deputy mayor of Oudtshoorn Local Municipality. After a brief tenure in that office, he joined an ANC seat in the National Assembly, where he filled a casual vacancy.{{Cite web |date=1998-06-03 |title=Members of the National Assembly |url=http://www.parliament.gov.za/mps/mps.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980628034746/http://www.parliament.gov.za/mps/mps.html |archive-date=1998-06-28 |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=Parliament of South Africa}} Although he stood for re-election in 1999, he was ranked 143rd on the ANC's national party list and did not gain re-election. At the time of his death, he was a businessman, with interests in the fishing industry.
Murder
On the night of 15 May 2003, Oliphant was shot in the head at close range while sitting in his car at an intersection in Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats. He was pronounced dead at Groote Schuur Hospital shortly afterwards. His wife said that he had been travelling to Mitchells Plain for HIV/Aids community work.
= Perpetrators =
Eight people, allegedly members of the Jukkies and Home Boys gangs, were arrested within a week of Oliphant's murder.{{Cite web |date=2003-05-19 |title=Three gang members in court for MP's murder |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2003-05-19-three-gang-members-in-court-for-mps-murder/ |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} One of them, Nazeem Amien, was convicted of Oliphant's murder in February 2005 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.{{Cite news |date=24 February 2005 |title=Oliphant's killer gets life |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/oliphants-killer-gets-life-234834 |access-date=26 May 2023}} During Amien's trial, a state's witness had testified that Amien and others had been instructed by a gang leader to stead a red Toyota Corolla, like Oliphant's, for a Johannesburg drug dealer; Amien was also convicted of attempted hijacking.
Personal life and honours
He was married to Elizabeth Oliphant, with whom he had four daughters and a son. In April 2017, President Jacob Zuma admitted him posthumously to the Order of Luthuli,{{Cite web |last=Gqirana |first=Thulani |date=21 April 2017 |title=Zuma to award national orders |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/zuma-to-award-national-orders-20170421-2 |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} awarding him the order in silver for "His excellent contribution to the fight against social injustices meted out against black people in South Africa".
References
{{Reflist}}
Category:African National Congress politicians
Category:South African anti-apartheid activists
Category:21st-century South African politicians
Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999
Category:People murdered in South Africa
Category:Deaths by firearm in South Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliphant, Reggie}}