Rapid Fire with Visvin Reddy

VISVIN Reddy was known as the “boycott king” while in college, staging protests against paltry student allowances. Fast forward more than two decades and… not much has changed.

As the national convener of the People Against Petrol and Paraffin Price Increases (Papppi), Reddy has encouraged South Africans to support the #FuelPricesMustFall campaign, which is gaining momentum.

“I was tired of the incessant fuel hikes, which affected everyone’s pockets, and loaded a video on Facebook. I was shocked that it received 63 000 hits. It then became a social media campaign,” he said. “I did research and started Papppi.”

Reddy, whose father was a policeman and mother a housewife, hails from humble beginnings in Shallcross. He has been involved in community work for most of his life.

However, before he became a champion for lower fuel prices, he was a politician known for his way with words, as much as for his floor crossing. He started with the Minority Front, hopped over to the DA and then to the ANC.

But the 48-year-old Malvern resident, who lives in a spacious, modern home described his political life, as “normal”.

Despite enduring heartache and tragedy, he remained in the political space for 18 years and now crusades a new cause.

In 1996, his eldest son died in a car accident at 18 months, and in 2006 his brother, a metro policeman, was shot at in their father’s home.

Six years later, he opted to quit politics and ventured into business, dealing with renewable energy and transport.

He now owns several restaurants, sports bars and logistics companies, and spends most of his days fighting the Goliath task of petrol hikes.

Reddy, who refers to himself as a “workaholic”, said his day started early.

“I cannot sit and do nothing. At 4am, I pray and send out a prayer message to my WhatsApp contacts. I then make a video for Facebook.”

The videos mainly deal with concern about the petrol price hikes and his fight for change.

“I then read the paper over a cup of coffee and play with my dogs.”

Reddy has three children – a 19-year-old daughter, a secondyear law student at UKZN, and 15-year-old twin boys, pupils at Glenwood High School. His wife, Sharmaine, a teacher, took early retirement and spends much of her time taking care of the home and family.

Reddy irons his own clothes and prepares a continental

Favourite food:

Fresh chicken curry and gadhra cooked by my motherin-law.

Nelson Mandela. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.

breakfast – omelettes, sausages, bacon, fried chips, fruit and baked beans – for his family on one Saturday a month. He leaves the “serious food” for her to prepare, admitting that he was not the greatest of cooks.

Reddy said he was a family man who also enjoyed some time to himself.

“I normally take my boys to school and my girl to campus before checking on my businesses. I love listening to Julius Malema, so I can teach him a lesson.

(grins).

My phone music, mostly R&B and the ’80s. Today’s music is noise. Nothing beats Lionel Richie, UB40 and old Indian music,” he said. He also enjoys watching old Indian movies, among them Baghban and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

Reddy loves swimming and going to the gym as well as meeting friends. “Many of my friends are older than I am because I find them to be wiser. I also like to fish and enjoy solitary

day.

I’ll say both.

Shorts every day, all

Neither, I’m happy with a Beetle.

I’m a trotters boy.

thinking on the beach. I love to write and have written memoirs and will hopefully make it into a book.”

But one of his bad habits, he said, was going into a store, picking items he liked and leaving without buying anything. “I’m a shopaholic,” he laughed.

Reddy has travelled to many countries among them India, Thailand, Singapore and the US. His favourite was Dubai for its exceptional architecture.