Fascinating and rewarding journey of Madiba’s shirt maker

SUZANNE BELLING

PHOTOGRAPH SUPPLIED

Pictured: Desré Buirski presenting one of her shirts to Nelson Mandela.

Buirski immigrated to Southern California from Cape Town with her parents and siblings in 1980. Having attended Herzlia Primary, Sans Souci and matriculating from Progress College, she had begun a career in drama, with a brief stint at the Maas-Phillips College of Speech and Drama.

She pursued her studies in drama and also graphic design at Orange Coast College in the US. But, in order to meet her expenses she became a dishwasher in the evenings, sometimes washing over 1 000 plates and working till 03:00.

Sharing a small apartment with her brother, she later joined her father’s clothing company, producing jeans and men’s shirts.

“This gave me the opportunity to travel to Indonesia,” she told SA Jewish Report. She remained there for several years, living in a small place near Central Java “with a population of about 100 with me as the only white person in the area. It was wonderful and safe – and the population is predominantly Muslim.”

She later moved to Bali, where the majority of inhabitants are Hindu. “But Indonesian is the common language linking everyone in the country.” Buirski became fluent in the language which is Dutch-derived as Bali was previously under Dutch colonial control.

“Bali became home. It was 1982 and I lived in a place where there were no direct telephone lines, no electricity and had to travel to the airport on a motorcycle.”

Going back to the US with her increased knowledge of the rag trade and attending shows in New York and other cities, Buirski was well and truly into her new career.

“In 1991 I managed to get back to Cape Town and opened a shop at the Waterfront. I was living, eating and sleeping my desire to meet Nelson Mandela.

“On May 7, 1994, three days before Madiba’s inauguration, I heard he was going to attend the Marais Road Synagogue in Sea Point on Shabbat. I was determined to give him a personal gift and had one extra-large shirt I had brought from Los Angeles.”

A determined Buirski made her way through the throngs of people including “grannies and nannies” lining Marais Road and gave the somewhat wrinkled shirt to Mandela’s bodyguard, which he placed in the boot of the President’s car.

She had written a note on her business card, expressing her appreciation to Mandela.

She was tipped off to buy Die Burger. “There, on page three was Nelson Mandela wearing my shirt!”

Things snowballed. She was in constant contact with Mandela’s then PA Mary Mxadana, who asked Buirski to please send more shirts. In all, she must have given the former president 150 shirts.

She received New Year greetings from Mandela, followed by a personal tea with the President at Tuynhuys.

Buirski was invited to Mandela’s parties and banquets and was seated beside him at his Christmas party in 1998.

There was a hiatus of several years, during which time Buirski collected offcuts from the shirt fabrics. From this she created a massive quilt – made into a wall hanging – which she presented to Mandela and Graça Machel at their home in Mozambique.

“Both Graça and I were in tears.” The wall hanging went to the offices of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and later was sent to Monaco to be auctioned for charity under the auspices of Prince Albert and Sotheby’s.

“There was a rabbi from Chabad headquarters in New York staying at the Hotel De Paris.” Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz blessed Mandela and, when learning about the shirts, Buirski was invited to address a conference of 2 000 people in 2014 in New York.

This launched Buirski’s new career on the public speaking circuit in South Africa. In her capacity as founder of Presidential Shirts, it has put her hand to sustainable outreach projects in Gugulethu.

“It has been a sacred experience,” she remarked.