When Dr Guy Preston moved from a university research post to a job in government 25 years ago, his to-do list was long and very ambitious, and his confidence was sky-high.
“I was a know-it-all academic with a big wish-list of all the changes I was going to make. I wish I could find that list now – of course, I didn’t achieve any of these changes,” he says somewhat wistfully in a recent post-retirement interview.
The many people who know him will chuckle at this critical self-assessment, because Preston, who stepped down as Deputy Director-General in the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) at the end of June, is renowned among his colleagues, staff, friends and even his critics as a passionate, highly driven and productive workaholic.
Through his huge body of work that helped shape contemporary environmental thinking and practice in this country, Preston is leaving an indelible stamp on the conservation of South Africa’s unique natural environment and on the social upliftment of some of its most vulnerable communities.
This assessment was repeatedly emphasised by the dozens of people who gathered to pay tribute during a packed farewell online function for him last month.
One of them was former cabinet minister Derek Hanekom (for a short time his political boss as acting environment minister), who described Preston’s work as outstanding and highly deserving of a national honour.
As Deputy Director-General: Environmental Programmes, Preston was responsible for a total budget of just over R4 billion In the 2018/19 financial year – the lion’s share of the department’s R7,43 billion total allocation. In this same financial year, the programmes created 26 929 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) and 67 364 work opportunities.
Preston, who earned a PhD in environmental science from UCT, would not have taken the compliment for himself – his typical response is self-deprecatory, and he’s always emphasised the huge role of teamwork with equally passionate and dedicated colleagues. But his personal contribution has, by any measure, been immense, and the visionary suite of 14 programmes that he led to promote environmental protection and social upliftment has become world-renowned.
Working For Water campaign manager
There’s a watershed date in Preston’s life: April 1995. This was when he was appointed Special Adviser to Kader Asmal, the charismatic law professor who had been appointed Water Affairs and Forestry minister in President Nelson Mandela’s first cabinet of South Africa’s new democratic era. In many ways, Asmal and Preston were kindred spirits, sharing a belief in how to get a job done.
One of the first tasks that Preston undertook for Asmal was to author a National Water Conservation Campaign. Crucially, this campaign promoted the clearing of water-guzzling alien invasive plant species like pine trees and some Acacia species in water catchment areas. Serendipitously, this work coincided with a major roadshow by the Fynbos Forum that demonstrated to decision-makers just how much of South Africa’s precious water was being consumed by such alien plants.
Asmal was in the audience at one of the Forum’s presentations, and his immediate response was to authorise an alien invasive plant clearing programme by his department, to be managed by Preston under the National Water Conservation Campaign. This programme would address two critical needs: it would make more water available, and it would create desperately needed employment for the poorest of the poor.
“I remember the lead-up to this, during a function in Kader’s office on the 15th floor of the Plein Street building when he came over to me and said … ‘You must run this. I don’t want the “grey-shoes” bureaucrats doing so’,” Preston recalls. It was highly unusual for a Special Adviser to manage a government programme, and there was a bemused response to Kader’s instruction from his senior officials.
