Paddy Mazibuko

Othniel Paddy Mazibuko (b. 1934) was a Bahá’í who served as an Auxiliary Board member for Africa but ultimately left the religion. In his career he was a policeman and achieved the rank of Brigadier before retiring.

Background

Mazibuko became a Bahá’í in 1956 while he was serving as a policeman in Swaziland. He moved to Sophiatown, South Africa, in 1958 and was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly that year and he was also appointed to the Regional Teaching Committee of Transvaal and Area Teaching Committee of Orange Free State serving on both Committees until 1962. In 1959 he was appointed to the National Teaching Committee for South Africa and served for one year.

At some point after the end of the Ten Year Crusade ended in 1963 Mazibuko was appointed as an Auxiliary Board member and in 1965 he opened a training institute held in South Africa. In April 1967 he traveled to Swaziland from his home in Johannesburg to attend the Convention at which the National Spiritual Assembly of Swaziland, Lesotho, and Mozambique was established and presented that years Ridvan message. In late 1967 he participated in an Intercontinental Conference held in Kampala, Uganda.

At some point Mazibuko was offered a high office in the Zionist Church of South Africa and he resigned from the Bahá’í community to accept the position, although he maintained his friendships in the Bahá’í community. In 1993, after his retirement from the police force, the Zionist Church nominated him to be the Governor of the South African Broadcasting Corporation however his bid was unsuccessful. As of 1994 he was serving as a traveling pastor for the Church.