Paddy Donnelly, a South African-born photographer and media professional, passed away at age 70. He was born in Germiston, southeast of Johannesburg, to parents of Irish descent and attended Christian Brothers school in Boksburg before completing military service in the Defence Force, where he worked as a photographer.
Donnelly studied journalism and music at Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape and subsequently taught photography at Mafikeng College in North West Province. Following the deaths of his father, mother, and sister from cancer during his early twenties, he emigrated to the British Isles, initially working as a photographer in Dublin before relocating to London in 1983. In the UK capital, he joined the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa (IDAF), an organization that financed legal costs for individuals tried or imprisoned for anti-apartheid activities. At IDAF, Donnelly managed a substantial photographic archive documenting state violence and apartheid-related events, processing and distributing images to media outlets and advocacy organizations. He also contributed his own photography to the collection, having documented townships, displaced persons camps, and anti-apartheid political gatherings.
After four years with IDAF, Donnelly moved to the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod) in London, serving as their media officer for over a decade. In this role, he briefed photographers dispatched to document projects supported by the agency globally. During his tenure at Cafod, he was commissioned to photograph Nelson Mandela during the latter’s July 1996 visit to London as president of South Africa.
In 2006, Donnelly returned to South Africa to join Africa Media Matrix, a training division for investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers based at Rhodes University, where he remained until his retirement in 2021. He subsequently returned to the UK and settled in York, where he participated in the Yorkshire Bach Choir, building on his earlier involvement with various choral groups in London and the Eastern Cape. Donnelly donated portions of his photographs and archival materials to the Legacy Centre in London, a history and education facility housed in the former offices of the African National Congress.
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