ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMPION: Farewell to Desmond D’Sa, the ‘bulldozer’ who brought hope to polluted communities

He was a “difficult man”, an energetic “bulldozer” who stood up to defend the poor – but was also a kind and spiritual community builder.

These were some of the terms used to describe the late Desmond D’Sa during memorial services at the Austerville Hall and the Christ the King Catholic Church in Wentworth, Durban, last week

D’Sa (70) died in a car crash on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on 29 October while driving to the offices of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), which he helped to establish 30 years ago, mainly to fight for people’s right to clean and healthy air.

One of 13 children, D’Sa was born in Cato Manor but his family was “dumped” in the mid-1960s into Wentworth, a Group Areas Act residential area surrounded by petrol refineries, chemical factories and a paper mill that spewed tonnes of pollutants into the air daily.

By the 1980s D’Sa had had enough of the polluted air, cramped housing, crime, gangs and drug problems that plagued sections of his community, leading to the establishment of the Wentworth Development Forum.

And when Nelson Mandela visited Wentworth to cut the ribbon for a further expansion of the Engen fuel refinery in 1995, D’Sa and his SDCEA colleagues confronted the newly elected president about the high rates of leukaemia, cancer and asthma in Wentworth, Merebank and the Bluff.

Their protests prompted the formation of an intergovernmental “multipoint plan” to measure air pollution properly and to compel heavy industry in South Durban to progressively reduce poisonous air emissions in neighbouring residential areas.

At a memorial service at Austerville Hall on 5 November, Bobby Peek (a fellow activist, Goldman Prize winner and founding director of environmental justice group groundWork) described D’Sa as his “second ballie” (father), a man whose campaigns had extended far beyond Durban to build solidarity with environmental activists in air-polluted neighbourhoods across the country and the world – including Secunda, Sasolburg, Richards Bay, the Niger Delta and the banks of the Mississippi River.

“Desmond often drove many of us mad because he never said ‘no’ to any struggle. No matter what time of day or night, he was ready to hit the road if he believed an injustice was being done.

“Desmond treated me as a son, seeking to pull the line when he thought groundWork was going astray... And he would do that in front of my staff. But I was not embarrassed. I was carefully humbled to remember that I answer to others not to myself.”

Verushka Memdutt, chair of the SDCEA, described D’Sa as the bold, deeply principled “heartbeat” of the alliance.

“He knew every street (in Wentworth and Austerville) and heard every complaint.”

Mqapheli Bonono of the Durban shack dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo remembered D’Sa as a man who “taught us how to organise and how to stand up”.

“He was always on the side of the people. He was always so warm and kind. We always laughed when he was around... (but) he did not back down when struggle became dangerous. Comrade Des spoke fluent isiZulu and engaged everyone with the same respect.”

In his tribute, Pastor Gavin Samuels of the local Church Based Community Organisation, described D’Sa as a “bulldozer with the gift the gab”, who had participated in countless prayer walks through the streets of Austerville and Wentworth.

For SDCEA air quality and health officer Bongani Mthembu, D’Sa was both stubborn and “difficult” at times, but also a second father who had mentored him for 18 years and taught him the need to express his views honestly rather than “just saying things for the sake of things”. DM