On the 29th March 1987 John Wiley was found dead in his bedroom at his home in Noordhoek, Cape Town. He was 60 years old. He had died from what was subsequently found by a judicial inquest to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. At the time the whole family was understandably shocked and saddened by the sudden and inexplicable death of their son, father and grandfather. At the time and for the next 30 years at various intervals the media has sensationalised the tragedy and made outrageous and unfounded allegations about John Wiley and the events leading to and surrounding his death.
This short document sets out the most relevant facts of John Wiley’s life as his children, stepchildren, close relatives, friends and colleagues remember him. We hope that this will go some way towards setting out the facts around the life and untimely death of John Wiley.
John Walter Edington Wiley was born to his parents James Byron Wiley and Doris Mary Edington Wiley née Fenn on 27 February 1927 in St James. John and his younger brother William attended the Diocesan College (“Bishops”) Preparatory School in Rondebosch.
After Bishops Preparatory John progressed to Diocesan College (“Bishops”). He did well academically and continued to excel in sport playing in all of his age group first teams. When he matriculated in 1945, he was a School Prefect and was awarded Full Colours in Cricket, Rugby and Athletics.
In 1946 John went to UCT to study Law. While at university he continued to play Club and 1st Class Cricket. He represented Western Province on numerous occasions and opened the batting. John graduated with a BA Law in 1948.
In 1949 John was accepted to study for a LLB at Lincoln College, Oxford University. It was while at Oxford that he developed what became a lifelong interest in politics. In 1951 while still studying and living off-campus in the neighbouring town of Woodstock, John and Barbara Jean Fortescue Francis (née Smith) were married. Barbara, originally from Southern Rhodesia, had met John in Cape Town in 1949.
Returning to South Africa in 1952 John, Barbara and Nicki settled initially in St James and a few years later moved to Clovelly near Fish Hoek. Jeremy Wiley was born in 1952, Mark in 1954 and Penny in 1960.
On his return to Cape Town in 1951, John embarked upon his career as a lawyer. He completed his attorney’s articles at the firm of Reid & Nephew in Cape Town. He never practiced as an attorney but instead joined the legal department at the Syfret’s Trust Company in Wale Street. In 1963 he was admitted as an advocate to the Cape Bar.
From the time of his return from Oxford John Wiley had become increasingly involved in local Cape politics under the banner of the official opposition, the United Party, then led by Sir De Villiers Graaff.
In 1959 John was elected to represent the United Party in the Cape Provincial Council. His constituency was South Peninsula (later Simon’s Town) which at that time stretched from Retreat to Cape Point including Noordhoek, Fish Hoek and Kommetjie. He continued to work at Syfret’s and became involved professionally in numerous property business ventures including the development of Blue Route Mall in Tokai – at the time one of the first regional shopping malls in South Africa.
In 1960 the Union of South Africa, after a referendum, withdrew from the British Commonwealth and became the Republic of South Africa. In 1966 John Wiley stood for election under the United Party banner against the formidable Senator Carr of the National Party. He won and became the member of Parliament for Simon’s Town - a position he held with distinction for over 21 years until his untimely death in March 1987.
The 1960s, 70s and 80s were tumultuous times in South Africa. South Africa under the Nationalist Party Government, led initially by Dr Hendrik Verwoerd at that time, implemented strict policies of racial segregation that caused increasing social unrest amongst the disenfranchised black majority population.
John was vehemently opposed to the removal of the coloured communities from both Simon’s Town and Kalk Bay, in compliance with the newly implemented Group Areas Act. Many of the coloured families were well known to the Wiley family. John was not successful in preventing the Simon’s Town folk from being relocated in 1966 – despite strenuous efforts. He was largely successful in seeing that the Kalk Bay community was left alone – a fact acknowledged by those surviving families to this day.
John was a devoted father and despite his busy work schedule he saw and spent as much time as possible with his children. Throughout his adult life John kept himself fit by running, swimming, working out in the parliamentary gym and squash court and hiking. He continued recreational rock angling throughout his life often in the company of friends and family.
He was still playing cricket at the time of his death, for the parliamentary cricket side, which he captained for many years. During the tricameral constitutional period he insisted that his team be fully representative of members from all three Houses of Parliament. Minister of Finance, Barend Du Plessis, was also a regular member of the parliamentary cricket team.
By the mid-1970s John Wiley was a senior member of the United Party. Following the June 1976 schools uprising in Soweto South Africa was experiencing widespread civil unrest. The United Party was divided on the way forward. In late 1976 John Wiley and a group of senior ‘conservative’ party members were forced to resign from the United Party. John immediately resigned his seat in Parliament and after standing as an independent candidate was returned as the Member of Parliament for Simon’s Town. Shortly thereafter he formed the South African Party with some of those who had left the United Party with him. John was the South African Party leader from June 1977 – August 1980 when the South African Party merged with the National Party.
He motivated this merger by saying that the progressive measures being taken by the National Party government at the time, to dismantle apartheid laws, was effectively achieving what the South African Party had campaigned to achieve.
In September 1980 John was elected as Simon’s Town MP under the National Party. In August 1982 he was appointed Deputy-Minister of Environmental Affairs and Fisheries. In September 1984 he was promoted to the position of Minister of Environmental Affairs, Tourism and Water Affairs.
Throughout his public representative career John Wiley was dedicated to serving his constituents regardless of race, creed or political persuasion. It is not surprising that he was returned to Parliament on no fewer than 6 occasions having campaigned under 3 different party banners. His championing of the rights of traditional fishing communities around the coast, the right of the fisher folk to remain in Kalk Bay in defiance of the Group Areas Act, his role in having fishing trawlers banned from False Bay and the declaration of several coastal marine reserves around the coast of South Africa, including the Tsitsikamma coast, are a tribute to his tireless efforts to protect and conserve the marine and natural resources of South Africa.
During the late 1970s Wiley while still an opposition Member of Parliament was approached by David Allen. Allen, a commercial diver and prominent business man in Port Elizabeth, had discovered two historic sunken wrecks off the Algoa Bay coast near Port Elizabeth. The law required that he obtain a permit to explore and salvage anything from the wreck. Allen applied for and was duly granted a permit by the relevant department to explore the wreck and retrieve artefacts. Allen argued that there was an urgent need to preserve these, and other, historical wrecks as archaeological sites. Up to that point reckless plundering of historical wrecks was common practice in South Africa. Wiley drafted and tabled a Bill to preserve historical wreck sites along the South African coast. The Act still stands today.
In the early 1980s Allen and a business partner successfully tendered for a concession to harvest guano on Bird Island in Algoa Bay. Guano is used in the agricultural industry as a fertiliser. Allen was apparently also involved in the first experimental mare-culture projects in South Africa. Contrary to unfounded media reports John Wiley, as an elected public representative, had nothing to do with the issuing of permits for any of the business ventures in which Allen or anyone else was involved. In fact, such matters are only dealt with by designated departmental officials and not by politicians. Departmental archives clearly record as much.
David Allen shot himself in Port Elizabeth in February 1987 following his arrest the previous evening for the possession of pornographic material and alleged paedophile activities. He had been released by the police the same evening and warned to appear before court the following day.
During his tenure as either deputy-minister or minister of Environmental Affairs, Fisheries or Tourism between August 1982 and March 1987 Wiley travelled the length and breadth of South Africa to inspect conservation areas, environmental research and mare-culture projects. He also travelled to neighbouring countries and other parts of the world on official conservation, fisheries or tourism related business on behalf of the Government of South Africa. In the course of his work John met hundreds of people involved in nature conservation and the fishing industry.
At the time of his death on 29 March 1987 John Wiley was preparing and campaigning hard for the upcoming 1987 General Election. The political and economic environment within South Africa and the world, at large, was changing fast. It was a stressful time for all South Africans.
At the well-attended public memorial service in Jubilee Square in Simon’s Town John Wiley was remembered as a dedicated public representative and passionate environmentalist. The memorial stone set alongside the Glencairn Wetlands between Simon’s Town and Fish Hoek attests to his contribution and commitment to the South Peninsula community and the natural environment of South Africa.