Tribute to the ‘man with no name'

News24

2 days ago

This past Saturday morning, 21 June, our beloved man with no name, took his last breath and passed away peacefully in his sleep. I was shattered by the news, and I reckoned that this was how Richard 'Dick' Foxton would have preferred to leave us, quietly without a storm or commotion. And that's how he lived his life, calm, composed and always looking for serenity.
As a public relations professional, there was no task too big for him. Those who worked with him know that he was a go-getter. He always took the initiative, working hard to achieve his goals even when there were challenges that seemed insurmountable.
Foxton Communicating, his company, handled communication of corporate groups – from the mining sector to all sorts of organisations in the private sector, institutions and sports organisations.
The customers were vast and multilayered and Dick managed their reputations, disseminating information to shape, influence and maintain a positive public perception. For this, the media space was his playground as he managed both positive and crisis communication.
What set him apart from his rivals was that he was rooted in the history and politics of his time, both nationally and internationally, especially the countries he had lived in as a child, grew up and chose to settle in – such as his beloved SA.
For example, in a meeting with him held after the Marikana massacre of 2012, when the mining industry was in crisis, in particular the platinum and gold sectors, and the CEOs were still concerned about the future, Dick took the initiative and suggested that government, while addressing other pressing matters, should express full confidence in the abilities of the management of the mining industry in the country to run the mines sustainably.
He also pointed out that government should recognise the important contribution that the trade unions make to the running of the mining industry. He concluded: 'Such a statement has many implications for the reputation, status and standing of our country nationally and internationally.'
Khulu Mbatha
He travelled the eight-decade road from the backwaters of Agra in India to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, from Kenya to the UK and finally to SA, with aplomb, sometimes a little recklessly, occasionally even bravely, but always with a wry sense of humour. Dick was full of anecdotes, like no other person I've known in my life.
He encountered public figures such as His Majesty Sultan Bin Said, Katharine Graham, Don Bradman, Hansie Cronje, Christopher Forbes, David Frost, Harry Oppenheimer, Helen Suzman, Barry Davidson, Stephen Mulholland, Aubrey Sussens, Sir George Martin, Michael Jackson, Nelson Mandela, FW De Klerk, Margaret Thatcher, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Michael Spicer, Gary Player, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe – politicians, business people, sportspeople and media gurus.
His life partner, Professor Thuli Madonsela, once said: 'Richard thrives on bringing people together; and on understanding people and helping them strategically target their messaging.'
I will dearly miss the time we spent together over the past decade and a half, and more so the dejeuners we had at restaurants around Johannesburg. He knew all the restaurant managers, the waiters and waitresses, and almost all the patrons of these restaurants by name and had a special seat reserved for him in all these eateries.
As a devout Christian, he always started his meal with a prayer. He was well known and liked and he respected all, young and old, black and white.
His one-of-a-kind memoir, The Man With No Name, is one of the best accounts of and a window into corporate SA's public relations before and after 1994.
As a family man, I will miss the stories he related to me about Melo 3 Grand Pa, Melo 4 Grand Pa and Melo 5 Grand Pa. These were stories about one of his granddaughters who always reminded Dick how old she had become. My heartfelt condolences to his dear life partner, the children, the grandchildren, the whole Foxton and the Madonsela families and his many friends.
Rest in peace, my friend. Hamba kahle.
Mbatha is an author and a retired diplomat.