Samuel Phiri was born in Chiradzulu District and attended Parma School there, but left from Zomba, after the death of his father “to go to work” in order to earn money; “he wanted buy clothes, to help the mother”. By this time he was already married, leaving behind a wife, Sarah. He would remain abroad for over two decades “because he was upset, he did not come home”.
Phiri left Nyasaland in 1943 in a group of 15 friends, with no passport, walking through the bush. He travelled light and carried his possessions in a bundle on a stick which he carried over his shoulder. On the road “he had man-made pots, maize meal dry meat, dry vegetables and traditional peanut butter”. At night Samuel and his fellow travellers would hide in trees from lions and snakes - nevertheless people would disappear on the way. Whilst travelling farmers provided shelter and food in return for labour.
Travelling on foot, he took 3 months to find a job in Zimbabwe. He did find work as a tailor for a number of years, but he eventually left this job the country “was not comfortable for him, no nice money, no nice job.” He arrived in South Africa in 1953. Though he had left with 14 other Malawians, only 5 made it South Africa – a number being killed by wild animals on the way. Samuel though “was a survivor”.
On arrival in South Africa he found employment in Johannesburg as a chef, “he had a good education but the foreigners when they came here they didn’t have a nice job because they need pass to show that they can work here because they coming themselves. If you wanted to work in a nice job, you were supposed to apply in Malawi.” He soon however found his forte as a tailor. Initially he was based at Kempton Park and worked in Jameston. This job meant he gained skills; learning how to make clothes, skills which he would use in later when he set up his own business.
Samuel met Johanna, a coloured South Africa, in Middlebank during the early 1950s. Johanna was from Lake Timbek, in Mpumalanga her family having come to Johannesburg as migrants. In 1960 Johanna started a job as a domestic worker and nanny for the Prolius family - in particular looking after the youngest Prolious son, Joe who was born the same year, and was nicknamed ‘Obus’.
The young Phiri family, who already by this time had three sons Gerd (also known as Richard) born in 1954, Stephen (also known as Tain) born on 7 September 1956, and Moses born 8 May 1960, moved to the Prolius family farm where accommodation was included as part of Johanna’s job. The Phiri and the Prolious family were closely integrated, Fred Prolious recollecting that the children “all grew up together” catching and cooking rabbits and guinea fowl in the fields together. Janet felt “we were like sisters and brothers”. The parents of both families had a similarly close relationship –for Joe “those years was good years better than today and nothing can change that”.
Samuel ran a tailoring business from this plot. Joe recollected that “every day he got on his bicycle, finding where are the orders, coming back making clothes – everything that you wanted her father could make...he made it on the farm and then delivered to the people... Every day we would see him on the sewing machine – he was very fast.” Equipped with a pedal-powered Singer sewing machine he sold suits to customers across the local community, stocking his material from Johannesburg. He was also a prolific suit wearer himself – Janet remembering that he “was always in suits, he didn’t dress traditional – he did have one traditional but he was always a gentleman with his suits, always...”
In 1962, Samuel and Johanna married, in a “white wedding” ceremony at Zambezi church in Tembisa. A fourth son, Leonard was born in 1963, he however was only to live for a year passing away in 1963. Nevertheless he was followed by Janet on 1 April 1964, Butiki 23 March 1966 and Nudi (John) 31 January 1970.
During this time Daddy was also President of the Tumbuka Burial Society alongside fellow Malawians, ‘Straight Number One’ the chairman, and Scotch the treasurer. The society - around 300 members - would have weekly meetongs outside the Phiri’s house. “My father was talented you know – he was doing everything.”
Johanna worked for the Prolius family for 16 years, until 1976 when the Prolious parents retired and sold the farm. The Phiri family then moved to Tembisa. When they first moved to Tembisa, Samuel started work at African Gate – a company which made fencing. He worked for this company until he retired in 1984. He continued his tailoring alongside this job and during this time, “business was very good for him”. He owned a number of sewing machines, and made suits for a lot of people in Tembisa and his brothers back in Malawi.
In Tembisa, Samuel was an elder at the Zambezi Church, which “had lots of Malawians” and was run out of the Emoriting School. Over the next few years he worked his way up through the system, eventually becoming a minister.
‘Daddy’ Phiri was a hub of the Malawian community at the time and would often help newly arrived Malawians, who would write to him in advance of arriving in Tembisa. “My father was very proud of his nation – everyone knew that he was from Malawi and he didn’t hide his country – he would tell everyone I’m from Malawi and I’m proud of my country”. Daddy hosted numerous migrants and would help them get passes for South Africa - Janet reflecting that he “was helping a lot of people – there was a lot of Malawians who was taking his money...he was like a leader, a lot of people they know my father.”
This nationalism however did not cross over into overt politics, and Daddy’s societal life remained rooted in the Church. “My father was a great person but he didn’t want to come out and shout...He didn’t like politics, he just went to vote – he didn’t like talking this and that..” His outlook was above all a Christian one, “My father did hate apartheid...his soul was always saying my bible says we are just brothers, the soul is one.”
Daddy only returned spasmodically to Malawi – returning 5 times in total, and then only once he had South African
Identification Papers – which he attained after marrying Johanna, a South Africa national. His only child through his marriage to Sarah was born in 1972 and Agnes Tamson, his niece, knew he came to Malawi in 1974 when he wanted to take Agnes to South Africa, and Daddy returned again in 1976, 1996 and 2003. Although Samuel ran his own business in South Africa, “he did not have much money because life was very hard...he would send back second hand clothes, but he was trying to help.” Nevertheless, according to Janet, during the 1970s, “he was sending lots of things, goods, bicycles, sewing machines” back via a passenger bus, which would ship the goods back to the addresses they were labelled with.
Having established a successful family in Tembisa, Johanna Phiri passed away in 1992. When Agnes came to South Africa in 1994, she lived with Daddy for a number of years. Though he suffered from a swollen foot from 1989, he still tailored in Tembisa. Indeed from 1996 he employed 4 other Malawians. Samuel Daddy Phiri passed away in 2005, with an ANC flag on his coffin. A proud Malawian he nevertheless felt rooted in South Africa: In South Africa “everything was new for him and he did like this country...because even when he died he said you’re not going to put me back on a flight to Malawi, you’re going to bury me here in South Africa, everything of mine is here in South Africa.”
