As the fifth local government elections loomed on August 3, one had to reflect on some personalities who wrote a chapter in the character of Estcourt politics.

Late Dawood Vahed will be smiling from the heavens at not been given the entry card to come down and participate in the elections. As being customary to opportunism, politicians tend to take credit for issues which somebody else did.

Dawood was never one of those. It might take another century for someone with calibre of Dawood to come forth. He passed away being financially poor, but rich in fulfilment of doing his duty of service to the public. He never touched a cent of public money, and remained committed till the end.

Being the only person to have survived the transition from pre-1994, politics, his embrace of democracy came without any real effort. Though not being a member of liberation politics, he did however subscribe to the want of attaining freedom and democracy.
When the late Harry Gwala was released from prison and came to Estcourt, he wanted to meet Dawood, whom he heard regularly debating on Capital Radio.

He was shocked that Dawood was not a member of the ANC or UDF. He won and lost many elections, but never lost hope and waited for the next round. Such was his tenacity that the ‘never say die’ will prevailed. His last tribute was when the Cornfields tar road project was launched by the current Premier Willis Mchunu. That credit must go to Dawood who kept knocking on the doors of provincial government to pay attention to the roads in Cornfields.

You are gone, but we will remember and miss your participation during election time.

Tim Jeebodh