Simon Mbata: The Waste Picker Pioneer who had dinner with the Pope - a tribute to my dearest friend, colleague and brother.

04 March 2022

It all started in the Free State, at the waste dumpsite in Sasolburg, South Africa, 15 years ago. It was a chilly, dry winter when I accompanied groundWork researchers to the landfill in 2007. We were met by a couple of very dark-skinned people in very dusty clothes, as if they had been walking on the side of a busy dirt road. I communicated with them in English, which was not their common dialect.  They spoke SeSotho and Afrikaans, which I am bad at. Simon stood out from the group, just by making sufficient effort to communicate with us, telling us of the difficulties they faced in their daily work of salvaging recyclable materials in exchange for money. The relationship between Simon and I started on that particular winter’s day, in 2007.

He had a very familiar surname among the Zulu clan and he used me to learn the IsiZulu and English languages, perfecting his IsiZulu over time, even though at the beginning he couldn’t construct a sentence. He joked that people should speak to me in SeSotho because I did not want to learn SeSotho. We started working very closely, roaming the country trying to encourage waste pickers to organize themselves because waste management was on the brink of being fully privatised, which meant that waste pickers would lose their livelihoods. We worked together in diverse and multicultural communities around the country because he was able to converse in almost all our South African languages. He could speak SeTshwane, Afrikaans, IsiZulu, switching between different languages and groups, depending which province we were in.

After travelling to almost every town in South Africa, a national waste pickers meeting was held in Johannesburg, in 2009, the first of its kind in Africa. The South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA) was born during that conference. At that very same gathering he was elected as chairperson of the organisation and was also mandated to speak to the media on behalf of the organisation. He excelled at serving and leading SAWPA. His confidence grew tremendously and groundWork made sure that he was exposed to different social issues, information and spaces. He attracted media attention and he even commanded respect in places like the national parliament, having been invited to represent SAWPA at portfolio committee discussions on issues around the concept of Zero Waste.

Simon spoke his mind and had a very strong personality; he would argue and drive his points whether speaking to a professor or a fellow waste picker, he would take you on. He had a broad smile and his eyes at times made people uncomfortable, when he was engaged in debates. He had a deep and emphatic voice.

He travelled the world to countries such as India, Brazil, Egypt, Spain and France, to name a few. The contribution he made was very telling – he was instrumental in the formation of SAWPA, he represented Africa in the Global Movement of Waste Pickers. He was very instrumental in making sure that the rights of vulnerable waste pickers were not abused. He was involved in a number of activities, nationally and globally.

The late Minister Edna Molewa once hosted him for lunch so that she could understand waste pickers issues. Even the current minister, Barbara Creecy, had engagements with him on COVID relief for waste pickers in South Africa. At the peak of the pandemic waste pickers were declared essential workers because he wrote a letter to the government demanding this. Simon made a vast and massive contribution to the waste movement. He strongly stood by the term Waste Pickers, a term that was considered a shame in the early 2000s, but which now has been embraced, and imbued with a sense of dignity.  Because of his drive and work-ethic, today there are even guideline documents for municipalities as to how they can integrate waste pickers in their waste management systems. In 2014 newspaper headlines claimed “Junk collector meets the Pope”, when Simon had dinner with Pope Francis, in Rome.

Simon, the accident near Sebokeng on the evening of 19 February has robbed us, by taking your life back to your creator. We are heartbroken, sobbing and confused, due to your passing. We will make sure that we take the baton, and continue the good work you have started.

May God comfort the Mbata family in these trying times.

Musa Chamane
Waste Campaigner
groundWork – and Friends of the Earth South Africa