What is your role?
My job is strategist and representative of Greenpeace and I contribute to campaigning and fundraising work as well.
What does this role mean to you?
On the 19th day of doing a 21 day hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, I got a call asking if I would be interested in applying. When you have gone that long without food, the world takes on a surreal quality and I was in no position to make important career decisions. That evening my daughter said, “Dad, if you don’t at least consider the job I will never talk to you again, Greenpeace is one of the best organisations in the world!” She was so right, this would be a golden opportunity to help not only my continent – but the whole world – in the struggle against climate injustice.
When you were young, what did you dream of doing?
I spent several years as an adult educator in SA, where as a result of the apartheid system the illiteracy rate of black people was shockingly high. Before that I served as a ‘house father’ for orphaned children. These were both dream jobs because I really enjoy the energy with which young people – or people dedicated to learning new things – take on the world. One of the things I most enjoy about my position now is that I am again offered this opportunity to work with young people.
What is your environmental background?
I have worked indirectly on climate change for many years, environmental justice and human rights are two sides of the same coin. I learned heaps about environmental activism as co-chair of the Global Call to Action against Poverty, the umbrella campaign of which Make Poverty History is a member.
But environmentalism goes beyond climate change. If we don’t look after the health of our planet, whether ensuring the Congo Basin rainforest remains intact, on which millions of people depend, or ending the plunder of our oceans and contamination of land and air, the poor will become poorer and the problems for development greater.
What elements of your SA life do you bring to this role?
I think our success in having abolished the apartheid regime immediately gives us credibility. As South Africans we showed the world that change is always possible. Deploying passive resistance, working in coalition, being willing to put our lives on the line are within the Greenpeace spirit and I carry these rich traditions to my new role.
Will South Africa benefit from your position?
I believe Greenpeace appointing me sends a clear signal of the organisation’s interest in working with less developed nations. I also hope that my appointment will lead more SA journalists and politicians to develop a greater interest in the work Greenpeace does.
What is SA’s stance on green issues?
South Africa is generally moving in a positive direction but it is still too little too late. We need to intensify our green credentials. There is huge untapped potential in renewable energy. We are heavily coal dependent, the largest carbon emitter in Africa and in the top 15 globally.
Greenpeace facts:
– Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organisation that evolved from the peace movement and anti-nuclear protests in Canada in the 1970s.
– Represented in over 45 countries, it has over 3 million members
– Its work includes campaigns for climate change, protecting world’s rainforests and oceans, achieving sustainable agriculture and eliminating toxic chemicals.
– Greenpeace never takes money from governments or business, as it allows them to maintain their independence.
