Keeping a promise that his fight for justice will never end

Kumi Naidoo, a social justice and environmental activist, once promised his friend and fellow comrade, the late Lenny Naidu, that he would spend the rest of his life fighting for a good cause. He was 22 at the time.

It followed a philosophical discussion about the difference between giving one's life to the struggle and giving away "the rest of your life".

It was one of the last discussions the young men had before they went into exile and on their separate paths.

Naidoo, now 48, still replays that conversation in his mind. And he has kept the promise.

Naidoo, whose 21 Icons portrait we publish this week, has lost a number of close friends along the way. "It could have been me rather than them," he said. According to him, it should be the moral responsibility of all those who survived to contribute positively.

Greenpeace International's first African director said the fight for economic and social justice had to carry on.

The 21 Icons project has produced portraits and short television documentaries of 21 South Africans who have made exceptional contributions to the lives of others or in their fields of endeavour.

Naidoo hopes that the project, created by photographer Adrian Steirn, inspires people to fight for justice.

For the photo shoot, Steirn had Naidoo standing in an inflatable boat surrounded by forest in Rondebosch, Cape Town. The image speaks of a man who would go to the end of the world to stand up for what he believes in.

"It says everything about him. He is an activist, a strong man - there for what he believes," said Steirn.

Fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of his signed portrait will be go to Greenpeace Africa and the remainder to Food and Trees for Africa, which promotes climate-change action, food security and sustainable natural resource use and management.

A short documentary about Naidoo which was shown on SABC3 is available below: