REMEMBERING A VISIONARY LEADER AND AN INDUSTRY GIANT WITH A HEART OF GOLD

Colleen Dardagan

“By your unfailing belief in people and your support of them, by your integrity and your insistence on the maintenance of sound values, and by your own unbounded enthusiasm, you were able to stimulate enormous enthusiasm and unprecedented effort by large numbers of people – all working together for the benefit of Michaelhouse.”

— Board Chairman at Michaelhouse Anthony Evans when the school’s prestigious Fellow Association Award was bestowed on Anthony Ardington in June 1997.

Anthony (Tony) Ardington lived a life of service, of leadership and extreme empathy for those less fortunate than himself, but at the same time, according to those who knew and loved him, he wasn’t one to easily suffer fools or time wasters!

Born in 1940 to a farming family near Mandeni in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Ardington was first schooled at Cordwalles in Pietermaritzburg before moving on to Michaelhouse in 1954. 

In the Michaelhouse archives, Ardington is described as a student of “modest” academic achievement and a “distinguished cricketer”. However, by the time he came to write his school-leaving exam he had allegedly “re-arranged his priorities” and attained a first class matric!

Ardington played for the First XI and was elected as vice-captain of the team before a knee injury interrupted his sporting career for a brief period. During his final year at the school, he was appointed a prefect and given a white badge – a coveted award – which recognised his exceptional leadership qualities. It was also during his early life that his characteristic concern for those less fortunate than himself came to the fore. He and some of his school mates would arrange sporting events with pupils from the nearby less privileged Asithuthuke School, which in those times attracted the disfavour of the National Party-led government.

Following a four-year stint at Rhodes University in Grahamstown (Makhanda) where he achieved a BSc Honours degree in Geology, Ardington earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University studying science before opting for Politics, Philosophy and Economics, achieving an Honours degree. He not only played cricket for Oxford but also met his wife, Libby, during his time at the 900-year-old institution. And, while some might have viewed his decision to return to the family farm in the then Natal as a waste of an extraordinary talent, he achieved significant success, not only on his own farming operation, but through revolutionising labour management in the sugar industry. Former SA Canegrowers’ Board Chairman and longstanding industry leader Rodger Stewart remembers Ardington not only as a mentor and a friend but also as a leading light in his community. “When I was elected to the Central Committee of Canegrowers in the early 1980s, Tony and Lawrie Gordon-Hughes had formed a leadership partnership unmatched globally in farmer organisations," said Rodger. “Tony, the visionary economist, and Lawrie, the solid accountant, pioneered and developed many of the South African sugar industry’s most unique projects, including the Financial Aid Fund to finance small grower development and the Trust Fund for Education to provide bursaries for any of the country’s current leadership.”

Current SA Canegrowers’ Board Chairman, Andrew Russell, said Ardington was counted among the most astute and foresightful among a multitude of brave and talented leaders who had served the association since its founding in 1927. “It is upon the legacy of giants such as Tony that the current generation of leaders continue to build,” Russell said. Ardington served on the SA Canegrowers’ Central Committee, which later become the Board, as a committee member from 1969 until 1974. In 1975, he was elected an executive member before securing the Vice-Chairmanship in 1978. His first tenure as Chairman started in 1980 continuing until 1982, after which he once again served as Vice-Chairman until 1988. In 1989, he was elected Chairman for a second time and in 1991 became an executive member once more.

He also served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the South African Sugar Association (SASA). SASA Chairperson Advocate Fay Mukaddam hailed Ardington for his outstanding and visionary leadership. “He served five terms as a SASA Chairman in 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. Furthermore, he was the Vice-Chairperson for four terms in 1993-94, 1994-95, 1997-98 and1998-99. In 2000, Tony, realising the importance of the Fourth Estate, resuscitated the interaction between SASA and the media after the engagement had been previously discontinued. Today, colleagues, we stand on the shoulders of industry giants such as Tony and we must carry the baton forward with courage and decisiveness,” said Adv Mukaddam.

Pat Goss - a noted businessman - once described Ardington as the best chairman he had ever served under, earning respect as an even handed and fair leader in every situation that presented itself. He chaired countless meetings in the fields of conservation, education, politics, sugar affairs and other businesses where he is well remembered as serving with distinction. Perhaps though, this bright and inimitable man is best remembered by his younger brother and farming partner, Peter, who recalled: “When I was a small boy, my father looked me in the eye after a long day on the farm and asked: ‘Son, what have you done today to be of service to mankind?’ That is an impossibly difficult question for a small boy to answer. But it was in this way that Tony, my sister Lois and I were raised. The ethic of selflessness was embedded in our psyche from when we were very young.” 

And while Ardington will be remembered for his colossal contributions in public life, in business and in conservation, it is the “countless smaller acts of kindness, love and support”, for which he is best known. “People would ask me what it was like to be the younger brother to the much older, seemingly more intelligent and worldly-wise Tony,” said Peter. “I would be lying if I said his stature and overbearance wasn’t a problem at times. But as time went on and I became wiser and older I came to realise I wasn’t standing in Tony’s shadow but rather on his shoulders,” Peter said.

Ardington leaves his wife, Libby and three children, Sally, Andrew and Cally.