Reg Anthony – a view from the inside

I WAS in standard six when mom started her business and the Zululand Observer was always the other sibling in our house. And a demanding one at that.

It is going to take a while to get used to the fact that she has retired and not in her office (The Intensive Scare), as she is synonymous with the Observer, DICE and the community.

The motivation for her starting the newspaper is well-known and the incredible success of the ZO stable of newspapers is legendary.

Mom has that unique and rare ability, of being a true entrepreneur. She had the idea and the vital, additional skill of being a financial guru.

It is this skill which kept the papers growing and being hugely successful.

What is not so well-known is the ground-breaking work she did when she started the newspaper in the 1960s. A married woman starting and owning her own business!

It was not easy being a woman in an almost exclusively male business as gender equality didn’t exist. But even so, most men only made the mistake once of thinking she should be writing Femme Focus articles.

Being a successful, female business owner meant you had to do it better. You couldn’t be mediocre or you were ridiculed. And no one has ever accused mom of being mediocre.

The Zululand Observer was all-consuming and it is only after having my own children that I realised how difficult it was for her to balance running her business with children and a husband.

There were many balls in the air and it is with incredible pride I can say she didn’t drop any. We all adapted.

Sometimes she was late for the school pick-up, or it slipped her mind completely, and sometimes a young reporter arrived to fetch me. It was just how it was.

Also, starting her newspaper from scratch meant she knew how to run every department and could turn her hand to writing articles, selling and designing adverts, answering the phone and sending out invoices and collecting money.

Mom always believed you had to know your own business inside out to make it work. She still does.

Community is everything
The ZO is a community newspaper and, for my mother, that meant exactly what it says. This is where DICE originated – the holistic incorporation of the entire Zululand community.

She saw a need, or a gaping hole, for a child care organisation dedicated to making the lives of children from fractured families easier.

An organisation that was not bound to any political party or hampered by internal politics. I was roped into her vision and DICE was an integral part of my life – I had no option.

Each term, the day before schools started, led by my mother we would be out there rounding up boarders hiding under hedges, where they had been unceremoniously dumped by their parents at some ungodly hour and told to ‘wait until someone came’.

We looked after them for the day, fed them, bought toiletries, pyjamas, books and pens and anything they needed.

Those same children were invariably left at school over free weekends and again, they were scooped up and we spent Saturdays and Sundays with these lost waifs at a caravan park in Mtunzini.

My mother’s saying was ‘do not worry about the money, it will come in…’ and it did. Zululanders were boundless in their generosity.

I remember starting Playhutt with mom, the first multi-racial crèche in the area. Our board meetings were held sitting at the toddlers’ tiny tables and chairs.

There was nothing more fulfilling than seeing the initial indignation of parents’ fade and the waiting list grow longer and longer. The little ones got a breakfast, lunch and tea, as well as knowing that someone cared.

Another achievement was Sonskynhoekie, the most amazing school for children with physical and learning disabilities.

Mom organised outings, Christmas parties – and even swimming sessions in the convent pool. Granted, she sat on the side looking glamorous while we were nearly drowned by exuberant children who couldn’t swim.

There was never any question or delay in responding to a cry for help. The needs varied on a daily basis from helping battered wives, supporting the education of gifted children from poor homes, a doctor’s visit, or just a lunch left on a doorstep for someone hungry.

Off the beaten track
The water tower at Ngwelezana Hospital was converted into a day-care centre for babies and toddlers whose parents were in hospital and had no one to look after them. They were fed, clothed and cuddled.

DICE’s Senior Christmas parties were just superb. A hot meal, a gift and friendship and leftovers to take home for dinner.

Child-headed families were looked after, clothed and fed. Blankets for winter were knitted by the bundle and distributed.

Wherever there was a need, mom was there, and is still there.

She discovered tiny schools far off the beaten track where handfuls of children, many who had lost their parents, were being taught by a caring, overworked adult.

The next thing they knew, food, clothes and books would be delivered, courtesy of Reg Anthony’s vision and compassion.

No article or tribute can be written about mom without a few personal thoughts. Firstly, no one can beat her for elegance and always looking so good. Beautifully dressed and groomed and so feminine, she was even stylish during our raucous girls’ lunches.

And no one has ever said she is easy. You simply can’t achieve what she has and be a pushover.

But we are so blessed to have her and so excited for this next chapter in her life. To paraphrase Bette Midler, ‘You are the wind beneath our wings!’

You rock, Mom.

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