Every year on July 18, the world pauses to honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela , a man whose values of justice, compassion, and service continue to inspire millions.

Mandela Day is not just a tribute, but a call to action: to dedicate 67 minutes, one for each year he spent fighting for social justice, to making the world a better place.

For many South Africans, however, Mandela’s legacy is not confined to global campaigns or symbolic gestures. It lives in personal stories, unforgettable moments, and acts of leadership that empowered ordinary people.

One such moment belongs to Desmond D’Sa, environmental justice activist, coordinator of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), who won the 2014 Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa.

In 1995, just a year into South Africa’s democracy, D’Sa and the South Durban communities of Wentworth, Merebank, and the Bluff found themselves at a crossroads. News had broken that President Mandela was coming to the area to open an expansion programme at the Engen oil refinery, a facility long accused of endangering the health of residents through unchecked pollution.

”The people were angry because a lot of people at that time already knew that their families were getting sick with all the high levels of toxins being emitted from the refinery. 

“We got wind that Mandela was coming to South Durban to open up the engine, an expansion programme at the Engen refinery,” said D’Sa. “And we had been challenging Engen for many years to clean up, to reduce their pollution.”

But as with many state-linked industrial operations of the time, access was tightly controlled. “We found that the refinery was under the National Key Point Act. They wouldn’t allow us near the gates, and they wouldn’t allow us to enter the premises or even to have a tour meeting with them,” he said. 

Still, the people of South Durban saw Mandela’s visit as a rare opportunity to raise their voices.

Volunteers went door to door, mobilising residents not to protest against Mandela, but to meet him, and to highlight our concerns about the engine refinery when Mandela comes past. 

“They understood that there was an opportunity and they didn’t want to miss it,” said D’Sa.

”More importantly, the statesmen of Mandela wanted to see him, and to see if he would react and welcome the local communities for decades of high levels of pollution that would be emitted from the refinery. That’s how Mandela gave everyone an opportunity to speak.”

And Mandela did react. When the presidential motorcade arrived and security forces lifted their rifles to block the crowd, D’Sa recalled a moment that still moves him.

“Mandela told them to leave with their rifles and stand aside. That showed how he commanded and the authority he had, even on the police and the military at that time.”

Far from brushing off the community’s concerns, Mandela stopped, greeted residents personally, and listened to what they had to say.

“Ordinary people took centre stage with him and he greeted and shook everybody’s hand,” D’Sa says. “He wanted to hear what we wanted out of the meeting with him.”

D’Sa remembers running with others down Tara Road, Durban, to meet Mandela, to see the man who had sacrificed so much of his life in prison.

Moreover, D’Sa said what the community wanted was simple: a meeting.

“We said, Mr President, all we wanted was a meeting with you to bring our concerns to you and that we wanted a meeting for you to set up with your cabinet so we can discuss the high levels of pollution that people were affected with in South Durban.”

D’Sa and his team requested a meeting with Mandela and his cabinet.

To D’Sa’s amazement, Mandela acted immediately.

“It was really a joy. I sat for many hours with Mandela on a Friday night, having supper with him, but also him listening to what I had to say about the impact that the Engen refinery had on people,” he said.

Mandela didn’t just listen. He acted.

“While I was sitting with him, it was a joy to see and hear that he could command and call all the ministers that were involved, Dawie de Villiers, Bantu Holomisa, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Pik Botha, including the Engen management, to come to a meeting on Tuesday at his home in Morningside.

”We would all meet together and sit at the table to find a solution to the ongoing problem of environmental injustices.”

D’Sa highlighted the significance of Mandela’s commitment in involving the cabinet, as well as the health and environmental sectors, in their efforts.

He explained that this involvement was crucial because it showed them the importance of participating actively and contributing their knowledge and experiences to the conversations. 

“We knew that we had to participate, we had to bring our knowledge and our experiences to the discussions.”

hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za

IOL Politics 

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