Donald a battler for justice right to the end

Green party MP's carry Rod Donald's coffin after the service. Simon Fergusson / Getty Images

Greens co-leader Rod Donald came close to leaving politics this year, his grieving partner Nicola Shirlaw revealed at his funeral service - but Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe changed that.

"For quite a significant part of this year, my Rod was in great despair and was just this close from leaving politics and starting a new life," she told about 1500 mourners at Christchurch Cathedral yesterday.

But then Mr Mugabe started his deliberate path of destruction and Mr Donald unsuccessfully campaigned to stop the New Zealand Cricket tour there.

"The fire in Rod's belly returned like I had almost never seen it before."

Ms Shirlaw said Mr Donald had been close to leaving politics more than once, though she did not say why. But she painted a picture of a figure who anguished over issues.

"I do not have the words to say how much I will miss this lovely man of mine but I wish him the peace of mind and the satisfaction of a life well lived that he didn't always have on this earth. This is truly not a wasted life."

Mr Donald and five Green colleagues were returned to Parliament in the September election. But last Sunday, the day before being sworn in, he died suddenly at home of a cause yet to be determined.

Moving eulogies by Ms Shirlaw and the couple's eldest daughter, Holly, and friends described a character who worked in perpetual mess and noise, who always ran late, who loved Pink Floyd and spiced apple cake, whose environmental textbook was Dr Seuss' The Lorax, and who loved to holiday in beautiful isolated places, as long as they had cellphone coverage.

Mr Donald was the only child of an unassuming quiet couple, David and Joyce Donald.

He began his unrelenting activism on environmental and social justice issues as an adolescent.

In 1976 at the age of 19, a local newspaper referred to him as "a veteran activist".

The funeral service drew a diverse group of mourners.

Alongside businessmen in suits were barefoot, dreadlocked activists. Some wore colourful braces that were trademark Rod Donald.

Alf's Imperial Army, which had mounted mock battles against Mr Donald and the Greens with paper swords and flour bombs, were in full regalia. Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright also attended - her sister, Leah McBey, was once a leading light and candidate in the Green Party.

Prime Minister Helen Clark, who was moved to tears in parts of the service, said Mr Donald's death was a reminder of the "frailty of the human condition".

She praised the way he conducted his politics. "It was precisely because Rod was so likeable, so pleasant and so courteous that he could state firm views and stake out very solid positions without ever incurring enmity or bitterness."

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown described Mr Donald as "a global Green and a noble New Zealander".

He also revived a haunting quote of Mr Donald's made recently to the Herald on Sunday.

"Rod Donald told a journalist 'I don't want to die wondering whether I would be a good minister'. Well, mate, none of the Greens are wondering."

Parliament did not sit yesterday so MPs could farewell him. Leaders from all parties were there except for New Zealand First, whose leader, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, was meeting the new United States ambassador in Wellington.

Mr Donald's simple pine coffin was carried to the cathedral on one of Christchurch's environmentally friendly electric buses. His family rode on the bus too, stopping at Mr Donald's central Christchurch office where about 100 friends and party supporters took to their bicycles and trailed the bus the final few blocks.

After the funeral, his casket was carried by Green MPs to the nearby Warners Hotel garden bar where he frequently stopped in for a drink.

Mourners said their goodbyes before his body was taken away for a private burial.