LAST month, I posted about Professor Reg Austin’s enduring influence on me as a constitutional lawyer. I am not the only one as my brother Vulindlela Bongani Sibanda and many others will attest. And his impact went beyond the law.
Reg was a one of a kind, a rare breed. In 2019, I posted about him and Jeremy Brickhill, two white freedom fighters who fought the Rhodesian racist regime on the side of Zapu/Zipra. What I did not say then, now prompted by his sad passing is his inspiring influence, friendship and mentorship and our professional connection over the years.
Although he was my father’s comrade in Zapu for many years, I first met him at the University of Zimbabwe as a first year law student. He would later become my friend too. I like to joke that I inherited all my father’s white friends (Reg, Jeremy Brickhill, David Coltart).
He was my Constitutional Law professor in 1991 and served as Founding Dean of the post-independence Law Faculty at the University of Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1992.
He did not waste time introducing himself and explaining his deep friendship with my father. Recall that when I had told my father that I wanted to be an airforce pilot, I had earned myself a blinding slap and promptly told that I would do my A’ Levels and then study law (the man had grown an attachment to lawyers because of his incarceration by Smith and Mugabe). So here I was in Reg (his friend’s law school) – must have been over the moon.
Reg would leave the Faculty suddenly to serve the UN as Chief Electoral Officer of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia between 1992 and 1993 at the personal request of then UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali. He would pop into the faculty now and again throughout the four years of law school but fate would reunite us years later via Luke Mhlaba with whom he served the UN mission in Cambodia where they helped the country transition from the atrocious Khmer Rouge rule.
Reg would serve at the Commonwealth Secretariat as Director of Legal and Constitutional Affairs from 1993 to 1998 and help South Africa transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994, as Director of the Electoral Component, United Nations Mission to South Africa (UNOMSA). He also served as Director at International Idea in Stockholm.
I would myself later be deployed to the UN mission in East Timor in 2000, and he would take constant interest in my then nascent legal career in the UN and especially the work we did to help the young and newly independent country come to terms with its violent past much like he had done in Cambodia. He kept track of everything, sending emails, providing unsolicited advice, reminiscing about his departed comrades. He would also later come to East Timor in 2007 to supervise elections after I had left.
We would reunite in Kabul, Afghanistan where he was assigned to lead the UN Electoral Mission between 2003 and 2004. I was already leading the UN’s work in rebuilding the justice system for UNDP and I was able to bring him up to speed. We had wonderful times and many animated dinners together in the midst of a truly turbulent period where Reg led the UN political support for Afghanistan’s first elections after the 25-year civil war.
Reg was appointed by Mugabe to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission during the government of national unity. Just after I joined the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), he would reach out again, this time to ask for support – he lamented that the ZHRC received virtually no support from government. Unsurprising, because Mugabe had not really been that keen on it and likely wanted it to fail like the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) later established in the 2013 constitution, which was similarly starved. He would go on to resign in protest.
Reg would serve as Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Institute from 2013 to 2023, an organisation led by my brother Isaac Maphosa, which I collaborated with and supported for many years.
In 2020, I was flattered when out of the blue he sent me the most beautiful video commemorating his 60th wedding anniversary with Olive. Almost 10 minutes long, that video is a kaleidoscope into their life together. I watched it following his death on April 23 and saw things I had missed back then.
His communication became less frequent. Even more so during Covid but he kept in touch. He remained active as long as he could, contributing his experience wisdom and counsel to civil society, the legal academy, peacekeeping, peacemaking, human rights – everything else he could.
I spoke with Luke Mhlaba, who served in Zapu too and became his academic, legal and UN protege just as I later became Luke’s and we agreed that we must honour Reg the way he deserves to be honoured.
If ever there is a Zimbabwean national liberation hero and also an international hero it was Professor Reg Austin. A white man who chose the not so easy path of fighting other fellow white men to create a racially equal society for black people in Zimbabwe. A revolutionary and international peacekeeper who sought to help nations rebuild and recover after devastating conflict. A mentor, father, guide, inspiration and light.
Rest in Peace Reg, as we called you, and as you preferred to be called by us, regardless of your fatherly status and role. Deepest condolences to his wife Olive, his daughters and grandchild. We share your loss. Thank you for sharing Reg with us all.
