Coverage
[ELECTION ARCHIVE: a look back at Patrick's 2009 election campaign]
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Former ANC activist to contest Dublin elections
12/3/09 – He defied South Africa’s apartheid regime – but that doesn’t mean Patrick Maphoso expects Dublin politics to be a walk in the park…
African immigrant activist joins political race in Dublin
April 2009 – A popular African entrepreneur in Moore Street Mall is planning to run in the Irish local elections reports The African Voice newspaper. Toms Emka Ugwu interviews Patrick Maphoso.
» Read The African Voice interview
Record demand for free food parcels in Dublin
Migrant workers hit hardest by economic slump
12/4/09 – “…One man who works with some of the people queueing is Patrick Maphoso, who left his native South Africa eight years ago to settle in Ireland…”
Hearing the immigrant voice
15/4/09 – “Setting out to represent the immigrant community in Dublin, South African native Patrick Maphoso faces a much tougher task than your average political candidate. He has to ‘recruit’ his target electorate before he can even start campaigning.”
» More from the Hot Press article
Irish food queues grow, Celtic Tiger loses growl
16/4/09 – “We need to look after these people who contributed to the economy of this country for many years. They are not looking for freebies, they are just struggling.”
Ceann Comhairle encourages more immigrants to stand for election
30/4/09 – “…While the great majority of the candidates reported being well received on the doorsteps, Patrick Maphoso, an Independent running in Dublin city, sounded a different note. He said he was racially abused by two middle-aged men near the North Circular Road on Tuesday night and reported the incident to gardaí.
“Two guys asked me to leave the area and they told me how much they hate blacks . . . I had to leave for the safety of my team and myself,” Mr Maphoso said.
» Read the full Irish Times article
Racist Terror; Thugs tell South African council candidate to get out or he’ll get ‘a bullet in the head’
5/5/09 – “I will certainly not be beaten by fascists. I have to go on for the people living in the inner city. When something like that happens it just shows how much immigrants in Ireland need a representative.”
» Read the full Irish Daily Mirror article
Independent candidate claims voter ‘suppression’
6/5/09 – Mr Maphoso said immigrants were keen to vote in the local elections in June, but when he explains to them that registering means a trip to their local Garda station, their enthusiasm cools.
“Voter registration has to be secure but it is basically the same process as joining a library – you produce documents like a passport and a utility bill to prove your identity and where you live. No-one thinks twice about getting a library card and no-one should have to feel uneasy about voter registration either.A healthy democracy shouldn’t be creating unnecessary barriers – this really needs to be looked at to find a better way.” he stated.
» Read the full Northside People article
Maphoso unshaken by ‘racist attack’
7/5/09 – An independent candidate in the upcoming local elections was forced to withdraw from canvassing last week following a threat to his life.
Following the incident, Patrick Maphoso said that no amount of racist attack or intimidation would stop him from moving forward with his bid for a seat in Dublin City Council.
» Read the full Metro Éireann article
Candidate threatened by local racist thugs
12/5/09 – Mr Maphoso, who is campaigning for a council seat in the Dublin North Inner City ward, says most people have been welcoming of someone who represents change.
“I hadn’t experienced any hostility until then,” he said. “It won’t put me off, though, and I’ll go back there again.”
» Read the full Northside People article
‘How can you integrate without representation?’
14/5/09 – Mary Regan, Irish Examiner Political Reporter, joins Patrick as he hits the streets.
“It’s about time that we turn the page really,” said Maphoso. “How do you expect people to integrate without representation? First we need representation then we can move into integration.”
» Read the full Irish Examiner article
Prime Time: Growing resentment towards immigrants
19/5/09 – Mike Milotte reports on growing racism towards immigrants, including hostility to Patrick on the campaign trail, and Government plans to introduce work permit restrictions.
» Watch the RTE Prime Time segment
Fruitful meeting for candidate
22/5/09 – HE’s a third generation Patrick from South Africa who is out to win your vote in the local election.
Patrick Maphoso was canvassing voters on Dublin’s Moore Street yesterday and one thing translated across nationalities and languages – frustration with Fianna Fail.
» Read the full Irish Independent article
‘Blacks make me sick’
22/5/09 – This is the kind of abuse two African local election candidates received while canvassing in Dublin.
Zimbabwean Green Party candidate Tendai Madondo and South African independent candidate Patrick Maphoso have both experienced racism on the hustings but say this has made them more determined to win a council seat and help change attitudes.
» Read the full Sunday Tribune article
‘I’ll be counted among those who tried to make a difference’
31/5/09 – Fuelled by optimism, an unprecedented 38 immigrants are running in the local elections.
“‘ll be counted among those who tried to make a difference,” says Maphoso. “In 2009, I stood out and tried to make a change.”
» Read the full Sunday Tribune article
Immigrants record limited success and the number of women elected drops
13/6/09 – Of the 44 in the election, only two new faces were elected. Two sitting immigrant councillors retained their positions and one lost his seat. The net result was just one extra immigrant councillor, although the community makes up 10% of the population.
» Read the full Sunday Times article
Reality check for immigrant election hopefuls
15/6/09 – For the dozens of first-time candidates who contested the local elections convinced that demography and the attention of mainstream parties would herald a breakthrough for immigrant politicians, last Monday morning must have come as a letdown.
» Read the full Irish Times article
New faces of Irish politics
16/6/09 – As we talk, Maphoso accosts a passing Irishman in a builder’s jacket, with tattoos on his forearms: a lost cause, I assume. “I’ve voted Fianna Fáil all my life,” says the man, Kevin. “Never again. They sold us out.”
By the time Maphoso is finished with him, they’ve swapped phone numbers, and Kevin has offered to bring him canvassing in his area, the working-class, inner-city community of Ballybough. What will Kevin’s neighbours make of an African candidate calling to the door, I ask. “No problem,” he says. “New faces are what we need.”
»Read the full article in Le Monde Diplomatique
After the election: Keeping hope alive
8/7/09 – Ambassadors from several African countries will attend a local election post mortem with a difference in Drogheda this week.
Yinka Dixon, the first Nigerian woman to seek a seat on Drogheda Borough Council, is hosting a post election get together for the 19 African candidates around the country who stood in the last local elections.