Publications
Partners
Former divisional head of waste management operations in the City of Ekurhuleni, Shirleigh Morris Strydom was head hunted to join the municipality from the national department of environmental affairs where he was temporarily without a portfolio for reasons that I will explain later in this tribute.
His employment history begins in the United States, where he casually worked in the hospitality and mechanical industry only to become a good cook and mechanic as well in addition to his qualification as an environmental scientist.
He worked in both the private and public sector mainly based in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng and the impact of his hard work is felt nationwide.
Born on September 15 1962, in KwaZulu-Natal, in a small town named Eshowe to Nolan and Filvie Strydom. Shirleigh was the youngest of eight siblings, six boys and two girls. They all lived on a farm in Mangete. As a young boy he went to school firstly at Mangete primary then Stanger Primary before he was afforded the opportunity to live with his sister Valarie in the US. There he went to Putney High School in Vermont, Massachusetts.
Once his secondary schooling was complete, Shirleigh attended Southern Vermont College, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in environmental management. During his time in the US he mastered his sporting skills by becoming a semi-professional soccer and basketball player as well as a professional darts player and hunter. His passion for sport also led him to become a sports coach for aspiring football and basketball athletes.
In July 1993, Shirleigh returned to South Africa, a young man, to assist his parent on the farm in Bongwana. Little did his parents and many others knew this 25-year-old young man was to immensely contribute in shaping the environment and waste management agenda in South Africa at both policy and implementation level.
He returned to South Africa at the time when many of those who went to exile were coming back and the country was at a turning point with many opportunities opening up for black people.
Considering our history, Shirleigh never matched up to the expectations of stereotyped people. He was viewed with suspicions by many blacks until they got to know him whilst many others were disappointed on learning that he could not speak Afrikaans but was fluent in isiZulu, English and Spanish. He was a true African, Zulu man and will be remembered among the many “first black” something.
He was the first black president of the Institute of Waste Management in Southern Africa – a position he used to facilitate meaningful engagement and relations between white monopoly capital in the waste management sector and relevant stakeholders such as all spheres of government, emerging black entrepreneurs and waste pickers.
It is common for first blacks to protect the status quo and strive to be the one and only black something, however that was not the case with the late Shirleigh Strydom. He had mixed feelings about being among the first black something and saw it as both a compliment and a challenge.
He understood that he was the first one and worked hard to deliver another black president of the institute immediately after his term ended while mentoring many others to take advantage of opportunities in the sector.
Strydom was unwilling to condone the waste industry’s indifference to black suffering and its reluctance to acknowledge and support the central role of waste pickers in the recycling industry. Thus he found himself fighting for transformation in the waste management sector and became a modern Zulu warrior on the side of black waste professionals and waste pickers eager to take on the dominant monopoly capitalists.
His unconditional support and loyalty to the poor and vulnerable became more evident when he joined Buyisa-e-Bag as the chief executive.
Buyisa-e-Bag was a plastic levy government created entity tasked with the overall responsibility of promoting recycling and job creation that was established in 2005 and closed in 2012.
As the head of the entity with a plan and a supporting strategy of what was to be done, where and when to improve the economic viability of community driven recycling buy back centres, Shirleigh was very disappointed when Buyisa-e-Bag was shut down – to the excitement of the monopoly capitalist who were on the board. Shirleigh, along with the rest of the staff, was incorporated in the department of environmental affairs as the department assumed the function of Buyisa-e-Bag.
While some staff from Buyisa-e-Bag were quickly assigned positions in the department it took some time before Shirleigh was assigned the position of project adviser.
He used to joke that just like Jay Naidoo in the first democratic government post 1994, he was a government official without portfolio while the department was still thinking in what position they can better utilised his vast skills and expertise.
There is no agreement on why Buyisa-e-Bag shut down and it was Shirleigh’s argument that reasons for the closure and the lessons learnt are important and should be debated if we are to better understand and inform future interventions. He warned at the time when government had just approved a similar initiative, the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa that had since followed suit and also collapsed. Safe to say had we headed his call to debate the reasons for Buyisa-e-Bag closure we could have learnt something as a country and avoided the collapse of the recycling initiative.
In the case of Buyisa-e-Bag Shirleigh’s ongoing fights within the board over the entity’s business plan created a dysfunctional environment and laid the foundation for the demise of the entity. He was fighting to be given space to properly empower community-based buy-back centres to be more economical viable while the competing monopoly capitalists representatives in the board were opposed to the idea as it threatened the survival of their own business.
Realising that he was no longer enjoying any support from the Institute of Waste Management in Southern Africa for his transformation agenda he pulled out from the institute and never renewed his membership.
This demonstrated that one of his beliefs in life was the importance of being authentic with people, saying what needs to be said because it’s good for the relationship and for the soul.
Unfinished business causes pain and having peace is essential for a healthy and joyful life. He never held grudges with anyone and if he did, it will be with his sister Patti for leaving this earth so abruptly when he still needed her. I hope he managed to track her down in heaven and they have reunited by now.
When I spoke to the former deputy minister of environmental affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, who worked with him closely on clean-up campaigns and promoting women and youth small and medium enterprises in the waste sector she expressed her disappointment with the sad news of passing on of Comrade Morris Shirleigh Strydom, explaining that it was “like a dream that I will wake up and its gone”.
Another facet of Shirleigh’s character was his enormous capacity to love. He clearly loved his family and enjoyed sharing stories of them with anyone, be it work or at social gatherings. He was so proud of them all, starting with his wife Barbra, being so happy to see his son Henry go to university and Cameron excelling in sports. His love touched all those around him and he treated one and all with the same courtesy and respect irrespective of position at work or status in society
For me, and all those who knew him, Shirleigh was an inspiration: a mentor and a very loyal colleague and friend. He was a man with passion for life and for people. He had a great intellect and never stopped in his quest for knowledge and empowerment of community members. As we mourn the passing of this great warrior, a fitting tribute would be to fast track the ongoing restructuring in the waste management industry and make the recycling market work for the poor and vulnerable in society who are in the coal face of the industry.
Goodbye modern warrior, mentor and many thanks for being a dear and loyal friend. We will miss you until we meet again on the other side
May your soul rest in peace my brother
• Russell Baloyi is a friend and colleague in the environment and waste management sector
