New MP Zane DeSilva is the PLP's first white MP since David Allen. Here he tells The Royal Gazette's Matthew Taylor why more people need to breach Bermuda's racial divide.

On an election night of few surprises the nearest thing to a shock result had to be PLP newcomer Zane DeSilva's ousting of UBP big-hitter David Dodwell from Southampton East Central.

After being in the public eye through Bermuda Housing Corporation notoriety, some had expected the 47-year-old building boss to struggle but he was able to capture the seat with a healthy majority.

One person who wasn't taken aback was Mr. DeSilva himself who had thrown himself into the campaign with the same gusto he has employed to make himself the successful business man he is today.

He put in between 30 and 40 hours a week canvassing for the eight months leading up to the election.

The gruelling schedule involved coming to work at his Devonshire-based business at his customary arrival time of 5.30-6 a.m., then heading to Southampton to canvass from 11 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m, coming back to the office in Devonshire, inputting the information, then going back out at 5.30 p.m for more canvassing.

"I sat in a lot of living rooms in eight months. A lot of people got to know the real Zane DeSilva, a lot of the older folks in Southampton knew my parents and grandmother and what sort of life we had coming up and could relate.

"If I put my mind to something I like to win. I felt comfortable I was going to win because of the people I had talked to."

Hard work is in the blood, says Mr. DeSilva who did not come from a privileged background. "Our family struggled, we had a tough upbringing.

"My mother worked day and night. Like a lot of people in Bermuda, especially the majority of black people, they worked very hard just to pay the rent and buy the necessities."

His mother married five times and his father three times.

"We drifted about in the early years, we didn't have much."

He grew up in the Scenic Heights area where his grandmother lived which is in the heart of his constituency. He and his brother were among the first whites to go to Boaz Island school.

Mixing with blacks was clearly a formative experiences for Mr. DeSilva who as the Progressive Labour Party's only white MP is frustrated at Bermuda's lingering economic and racial divide.Transcending his own financial constraints has also been a consistent trait.

"I started working at an early age. My first job was when I was five or six years old selling coral to tourists."It's in my nature, I always had that urge to try and make a dollar."In his late teens he grew sick of continual rent rises and vowed to get his own home. "I started working day and night, seven days a week."

He worked as a mail deliverer and printer at American International and would paint houses in town on his lunch hour after a very quick change of clothes.

Weekends were spent toiling at a clothing store on Saturdays, at a bike rental shop on Sundays while in the evenings he waited tables and washed dishes.He kept up that hectic pace for three to five years until he was married. "I got through it. I was on a mission."The goal was to buy a house by the time he was 25. "We did that."

He became manager at SKB and left in 1988 to work with his father at Island Construction when it had 15 staff and "was in very poor financial shape".

In his 20s he had done management courses, book keeping and accountancy courses at Bermuda College so he was installed in the office of the family firm and began turning it inside out, cutting inefficiency and capitalising on successes. But he is quick to add: "Not without my brother's help. Allan is certainly the most knowledgeable excavation person on the island.

"The expansion included haulage companies, asbestos and concrete offshoots. Now Island Construction employs 65 staff, making it one of the top three building firms on the island and Mr. DeSilva's businesses include a quarrying firm, a project management company, two development companies and a tyre dealership

His daughter Zara, 24, works for his firm as does his wife Joanne while his son Zane Jr., 21, intends to get involved when he finishes his studies.

Asked why the company is not unionised, Mr. DeSilva said he believes the workers' benefits package is second to none. "We treat the guys well. I like to look at it as one big family. But I have said before – if the guys wanted a union, I would lead them."

Despite his busy working life Mr. DeSilva always felt he would one day be involved in politics. "Especially after I became successful in business I wanted to give back and try to create this level playing field."As such, he says he has always shared the PLP key philosophy of social justice for all."That runs deep with me because of my roots."He loved Ottiwell Simmons and also Dame Lois Browne Evans who he said was mischaracterised as someone who wanted to help only blacks instead of the downtrodden generally."She fought for the Portuguese in Bermuda."Mr. DeSilva's father used to be thrown off the golf course with his black friends because neither group was allowed."We had those challenges, that's why I would like to see more Portuguese participate in the PLP.Lois Browne paved the way, they would need to remember that."Iam white and I will fight for the betterment of Bermudians that need help – we need to empower blacks, and create opportunities for black people. And of course when we do that the whites who need that help will be, by default, be sucked in."He admits whites struggle to grasp this. "I tell them all the things we are doing – the free day care, the free buses, the pensions – these will benefits blacks but also whites."Certainly blacks seem glad of Mr. DeSilva's contribution."I continually get every day since the election, people who I don't know, mainly black people who are very happy and excited about what I am doing."He says a white friend of 55 voted PLP for the first time at the election and was then asked to join a Government board. "He was the odd one out racially but after a few meetings said 'I thought there would be a bit of tension but the people have embraced me and I feel wanted'." Mr. DeSilva adds:"I can say the same for my family, they will tell you the same thing, they felt nothing but support and love from the PLP."I get a little hyped when people say the PLP is a black party. The PLP is a party where whites have failed to join in any significant numbers. I challenge whites – join, get involved (instead of having this) boogey man that it's a black prejudiced party."But when pressed he admits it's not all "feel the love", and that the party has an extreme element. "I won't disagree. But the UBP has whites that are the same way – the old white guard. My wife took some serious abuse just last weekend from some white people."

On the PLP's hardliners he said: "Quite frankly some of those blacks need to change as well as those whites need to change but it is a lot more the whites that need to change."

Asked if anyone ever challenged the extremists in his own party he said:"I think that conversation has taken place with some. I have heard it take place, because things were said in my presence and I have heard certain black people say 'You know what, that's out of order'."Some in the PLP object to Mr. DeSilva not on racial grounds but because of his meteoric rise. Put simply they see him as a bandwagon jumper, complaining he quickly got a seat to fight ahead of longstanding members with a stronger claim.

"Nobody has approached me about that. And to those who would say that I would say you probably don't know Zane DeSilva and where I have been for the last 15 to 20 years."

Cynics will say every time his company gets a Government contractor it's because of his political connections.He responds: "I wish Icould have got as many contracts under the PLP as I got under the UBP."And he said he hadn't got endless deals "contrary to popular belief" and was annoyed to be targeted by Opposition Works spokesperson Patricia Gordon-Pamplin as getting a big slice of the Port Royal Golf course contract when in reality he was just a sub contractor."I wish she would have done more homework before she decided to make a lot of noise in the Press."Asked if all major contracts should be open for tender he says:"Absolutely. But some things when you have an emergency situation, no, that doesn't go out for tender. "For instance when we had Fabian and we did the Causeway and quite frankly I think if anyone else had been asked to do it we wouldn't have had that bridge open for another two or three weeks. "My brother is the absolute best person on the Island when it comes to excavation, restoration and land reclamation."

The Bermuda Housing Corporation press coverage in which it was claimed Mr. DeSilva had special access to Ministers and had once proposed sending asbestos to Cuba and cutting Ewart Brown and Nelson Bascome in on the profits is how many people came to know Mr. DeSilva's name.He describes that situation as non-stop unsubstantiated lies from anonymous sources which actually helped rally people to his cause during the election.

And Mr. DeSilva said he has often been tempted to defend himself but decided it would be endless. During the campaign he was accused of forging cheques. He said:"I have never forged a cheque in my life, I have certainly never taken a penny from anyone in my life. But when do you stop? What's next week?

"But for now the period of intense scrutiny appears to be over and Mr. DeSilva has worked hard since the election, managing to get the asphalt on Scenic Heights Pass which has been called for by residents for over 15 years. The personal touch even extends to calling his constituents on their birthday– if he has their number. And he says he is relishing his time in the House and would serve in Cabinet if asked but doesn't give them impression it is something he is pushing for.

"I don't like to do anything unsuccessfully. A Cabinet post, to me, would be like starting a new business which would require a lot of time and dedication."I think I am really going to enjoy (Parliament) going forward – the process of making decisions that are hopefully going to change Bermuda for the majority of Bermudians which is why I got involved in politics."

He points out the two parties enjoy their lighter exchanges in the House and he lists Darius Tucker, John Barritt, Trevor Moniz and Grant Gibbons as people he knows reasonably well.

He's been a pal of UBP leader Kim Swan since they were small and the pair often head off twice a year for a golf tournament in Las Vegas.

But Premier Ewart Brown is perhaps Mr. DeSilva's best known golfing buddy. He met the future Premier more than ten years ago through the party, golf and social events.

"I was a member of the party before he and I really started talking politics."

He admires the Premier's intelligence, decision-making and drive.

"One of his best qualities which the naysayers have it wrong on is he is very much in touch with the Bermudian people.'

However he accepts Dr. Brown has an image problem with whites not experienced by his two predecessors.

"A lot of that is the picture painted by the press. I will challenge many whites to call the Premier and sit down and talk to him. I think they will find a different person.

"Ewart Brown has a passion for Bermuda and all Bermudians and that includes the whites. "What I would like to see more of the wealthy whites to take more of a role in helping Bermudians that need help. As long as we have people with no hope you are going to have problems.

"Some whites say to me 'Look Zane I am tired of all this talk of black and white, why can't we just forget it and move on?'. Well that to me is from a white person who doesn't understand what the blacks have been through."

Others are willing to talk about the past injustices to blacks in Bermuda and recognise that being born white is a large privilege.

"I know because I have lived amongst blacks and seen what has happened just because someone is white and someone is black. "That's why education is at the top of our list and is going to be the key factor for Bermuda is to get all of our people education. And the Big Conversation? "That has to continue."

He said another move to heal the racial divide would be for white people to join black organisation such as churches and clubs.

"I have been doing it all my life, I went to black schools, I played for black football teams. "Ialso played for BAA, a predominately white club, so I played on both sides. "Ihave more black friends than white."