Obituary: David Sean Scott - A man who will be remembered for the people he left behind

Obituary: David Sean Scott – Scotts, Brazilia Footwear (04/09/1955-26/02/2023)

David Scott’s true legacy is summed up by the warmth of the memories of two women – his older daughter, Kate, and a former hawker he mentored to become an international businesswoman in her own right, Fortunate Msa Tserane of Msa Shoes.

Kate Scott

David Sean Scott was born on the 4th of September 1955 to Mary and Desmond Scott. He was one of 6 siblings, including a non-identical twin brother, Johnny, who died when they were teenagers. 
He went to Cordwallis and then to Hilton College, and as a schoolboy, he loved poetry and writing. 
He did his National Service in the South African Air Force, where his mustering was as a medic.

He started his career working as a buyer for Scott’s, the company founded by his father and uncle, Robin Scott.
He married my mum, Louise Weerheim, also a buyer at Scotts, in the late 70s and had me (Kate) and then my little sister, Allannah. They got divorced around 1989. 
He married the politician Belinda Barrett in the late 1990s.

Home from the army and in the garden with his sister, Mary-Jane.

Dad and me at my 30th birthday in London.

After Scott's was sold to SA Breweries in the early 1980s, he started his own footwear company, first importing from China and then manufacturing locally under the label Oxford Blues Ones and Twos.
Later, he started Brazilia Footwear, importing high-end leather shoes and handbags from Brazil. I worked with him there from 2005 - 2008.
There was also a division of Brazilia Footwear that bought up footwear overruns of big US brands from the factories in Brazil which we sold wholesale in SA.
When he retired around 2010, he helped one of his hawker customers – Fortunate Msa Tserane - take over that side of the business.

He was a very keen birder from a young age. His bird book and binocs were never far away and he could tell most birds just from their call. He enjoyed fly fishing and was also a good golfer and member of the Natal Nomads for many years. After retiring from business in 2010, he planned and undertook a 3-month drive through Africa which took him from South Africa to Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia - he met up with different friends and family members occasionally along the way. He had a great love and respect for nature and the great outdoors. 
He also enjoyed horse racing, mostly thanks to the fact that our family had a stud farm, Scott Bros, up in Nottingham Road, which was sold in 2020. 

With my little sister, Allannah, at the Scott Bros. stud farm.

Mary-Jane, David, Des and Kate at Des’ 90th birthday celebration.

Fortunate Msa Tserane

I have a shoe business called Msa Shoes. I sell shoes to a niche market: affluent/high society women of South Africa and across Africa. I dress them with high quality designer shoes.
David Scott literally made me! After I relocated to Joburg as a housewife to a medical doctor, I started a shoe business where I bought all the shoe samples that he showed to his clients in South Africa. They were mainly size 4, so I was known for only selling size 4!
Two years later, during a recession in 2008, he decided to close the business and literally gave it to me. How so? By connecting me to his suppliers in Brazil. He gave me ALL the details of how to get there and exchange rates, what to do in Brazil, the name of the airport in Sao Paulo, and how to connect and exchange my details with Brazilian suppliers who are like family today to me.
He literally changed my life for good. I offered to pay him R100 000 finder’s fee, but he refused and said he was helping me. Wow! He was such a selfless person! He literally paved the future for my daughter, Lehakoe Tserane, who is now studying in America through this business. Without him she would never have even dreamt such dreams! I will forever be indebted to him and his family, especially Kate, who worked with her father at that time. In four words...David Scott made me.
I did an MBA in England, at Henley Business School, through the money I made from my business. My Brazilian suppliers wrote a recommendation letter that saw me being accepted for my MBA, where I analysed my shoe business.
That paved a way for me as through this study, I was also asked by the Secretary General of FIFA to write about women's football in Africa. Without the start from David, FIFA would not have known me.
I now live in Bryanston, next door to Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football.
And here is another fact: I later found out that David’s father helped my father when he applied to the Urban Foundation to build a school for my community of Sankontshe before his untimely death in 1985.
In a nutshell - I was made by David Scott.

David and his wife Belinda on their way to the races.

Quintessential Dad face with his Hansa.