The Green Net is honoured and deeply grateful to have known and worked with Dr Desmond D’Sa and the organisation he founded, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA).
Growing up in heavily polluted parts of Durban South, Des understood that environmental justice is human justice – environmental damage caused by unregulated industries directly robs people of their ability to stay healthy, feed themselves, build small local businesses or maintain cultural and social bonds.
For most of his life, Des worked tirelessly to protect local residents and their livelihoods, often at great risk to his own safety.
Whether he was physically confronting illegal trawlers in a little fishing boat, teaching and raising community awareness, or tackling international corporates through the courts, Des demonstrated a remarkable heart-based intelligence that saw the big picture and treated all people with respect and compassion.
He embodied the SCDEA motto: The Right to Know, The Duty to Inquire, The Obligation to Act – and made sure his successors would be properly equipped to continue their work effectively and with integrity.
Des had an amazing way of creating unity and bringing together people from different cultures, languages, religions, economies and skill sets, to work together in the interests of the greater good (for example, the campaign to prevent Shell from operating offshore mining along the Wild Coast).
He prevented many environmental disasters and saved countless lives, and will be remembered for his courage, tenacity, professionalism, kindness and gentle sense of humour.
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