The Institution of Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, South Africa

ICMEESA News: January 2005

Download the PDF version of the January 2005 newsletter

1. Message from the Outgoing President: Dr Gus Muller.
2. Introducing the President Elect - Mr Vaughan Townsend.
3. Message from the President Elect Mr Vaughan Townsend.
4. Financial Status of ICMEESA
5. ICMEESA Mission Statement
6. ICMEESA Vision
7. Personality Profile - Jerome Horne
8. Membership Trends.
9. Welcome to the New Members of 2004

Message from the Outgoing President: Dr Gus Muller

Another year has passed and we are all in the threshold of a new era. So often I have heard the expression “for some of us there will be changes”. The reality however is, it will be there for each and every one of us. The difference is, some of us accept it and some of us choose to carry on as we use to, and by that stay in our comfort zone. Unfortunately life is not waiting for anyone.
I have been honoured and privileged to serve the Institution as President for two consecutive terms. I express my gratitude for all the loyalty and support that was rendered to me by each and every member of the Institution and especially the members of Council and Exco. A number of initiatives were embarked upon during the year and I trust that these will enjoy the continued support for our newly to be elected President and his team.
I see this New Year as an opportunity to continue to support the mission, vision and objectives of ICMEESA and choose to make the difference with a new and revitalized enthusiasm. I want to congratulate Mr Vaughan Townsend, our President elect, and ensure him of our continued support and wish him every success in this term to come. May each and everyone of our members and their loved ones enjoy a new year flooded with opportunities and blessings and may you be protected and blessed with love, peace and prosperity in 2005.
“Lets make the difference”

Introducing the President Elect

Vaughan Charles Townsend started his career with the former South African Transport Services as an apprentice tool and die maker in 1980 and was honoured with the Apprentice of the year award in 1981. He obtained a National Engineering Diploma through the Pretoria technical college and continued his studies at Pretoria University, obtaining a B Eng (Mechanical) degree in 1986. After graduating, Vaughan was employed by various mining affiliates of Gencor gaining experience in coal, gold and platinum mining and mineral extraction.
Impala Platinum has employed Vaughan since 1989 where he has had exposure to and gained experience in milling, smelting, pneumatic conveying, tailings dam construction and management as well as various other forms of conveying systems. Since 1996 he has been involved on various vertical shafts across Impala. His experience ranging from the day to day shaft operations to design, construction and commissioning of 5 MW compressor installations, 10 MW refrigeration plants, ore pass rehabilitation, vertical shaft sinking, decline shaft sinking and equipping, underground monorail systems and trackless mining in the hard rock environment. He is currently the Senior Manager Engineering for the Impala Rustenburg operations taking overall responsibility for the engineering function. He is also a registered professional engineer.
In 1996 Vaughan completed the MDP through UNISA being a member of the team that were awarded the sought after Toyota Trophy for the Best MDP group of the year. He is currently busy with the third and final year of his MBL studies through UNISA.
Vaughan has also been actively involved in the engineering profession for many years, being an active member of numerous professional bodies and serving on various committees. Home renovations, family and sport are his favourite pastime activities. He has completed the Comrades marathon 7 times and enjoys camping and the outdoor life.
Vaughan has served on council for the past 8 years, was President in 2001 and has been re-elected as President of the Institution for 2005.
We wish Vaughan all of the best for this year in office.

Message from the President Elect

With the festivities of 2004 and a well-deserved break from the normal routine behind us, we can pick up the threads with renewed enthusiasm and hopefully complete some of the unresolved issues.
Many of the initiatives, some of which commenced 2 years ago, have required input from the public, employers and the professional practitioner. Often a review, after many a debate, has also been required by these parties before a final draft was tabled.
Through the commitment and hard work by you, the members of our Institution, we have managed to participate constructively in the process of developing our future as Certificated Engineers. On behalf of the council I would like to commend and thank you for your continued support and efforts.
We are confident that a number of these initiatives, i.e. continued professional development (CPD), identification of work for compulsory professional registration, the educational qualification model and many more will reach a point of finalisation in 2005. No doubt requiring your final input and approval once again.
The environment we find ourselves in currently is dynamic and provides some very interesting and exciting challenges for 2005 and the years that follow. For many of us 2005 will be the foundation or staring blocks.
Equity, empowerment, charters, women in mining, to mention but a few, are reality and will have a direct influence on our professional future. Without compromising our standards, we need to find solutions to effectively implement these legislated requirements. Rome was not build in a day, therefore to achieve our long-term objectives we as certificated engineers will not only have to work in unification but ensure a sustained effort to maintain the required momentum.
My message to you as Certificated Engineers is to get involved and let yourself be heard in 2005. This is not only in the interest of our own professional careers but by also contributing to the growth of the national economy you can assist in reinforcing a sustainable, profitable South Africa, where we would all hopefully like to retire some day.
Remember our motto: “Finis Coronat Opus” = Let the completion of the work be its own reward.

I wish you all a prosperous, successful and peaceful 2005.

Financial Status of ICMEESA

The year 2004 was another positive year with regards the payment of subscriptions from members. Subscription income exceeded the expenses, which allowed the subscription increase to be limited to 6% for all membership categories. This surplus excludes income from other sources such as investment interest and the WP Jones bursary trust fund income. It is also positive to note that the healthy situation allows payment of 10% of subscriptions, excluding VAT, to be paid to the branches to support the funding of branch activities and expenditures. This is the third successive year that this has been possible bearing in mind that this practise had been previously suspended due to cash flow restrictions. We thank all the members for their positive contribution to the prompt payment of subscription dues. I trust that the invoices enclosed with this January newsletter will receive the customary positive response from you.
Credit must be given to our hard working Secretary, Fiona, for all the hard work done to trace members when post is returned and payments do not reflect the membership number. This is still a problem especially with respect to payments made on behalf of the member by his employer.
Fiona has also been responsible to ensure that costs are contained to well below the budgeted figure by actively seeking the best prices for everything ranging from ink cartridges to air tickets. Keep up the good work Fiona in looking after our member’s interests.

ICMEESA Mission Statement

The mission of the Institution of Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, South Africa, is:

• To uphold the professional image, status and interests of all Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers through:
  • Representing the Certificated Engineer through pro-active participation on statutory, educational and professional decision-making bodies.
  • Regular formal communication to and between members so as to promote member interaction, fellowship and ongoing professional development of the Certificated Engineer.
  • Active participation at branch level

ICMEESA Vision

Formally recognised within the profession as the representative body of all Certificated Engineers with membership of ICMEESA being highly regarded by members through the visible and tangible added value benefit of membership through a combination of active branch activity and sound inter communication to and between the members.

Personality Profile – Jerome Horne

After matriculating Jerome joined the Railways as apprentice Telephone & Telegraph electrician at the start of 1942. In those days there were no shortcuts and you had to serve the full 5 years. Hungry to learn he made full use of the opportunity to study at the Technical College in Longmarket Street, Cape Town and attained the ATC II. After one year as an artisan, during which he was responsible for four copper wires running alongside the railway line from Cape Town to Bredasdorp, he was put into the drawing office on Platform No 1. This arose out of a task he was given as a final year apprentice to trace the underground communication cable running through the Harbour, the Salt River Works and along the railway line to Simonstown. Over the months he and some junior apprentices walked along with a frame aerial and earphones listening for the buzzer set up in the Automatic Exchange on Platform No 1. In the drawing office he made two copies of the cable routes on whatever plans he could find. When he got married in January 1949 he was dispatched to East London to be the first electrical draughtsman under the System Electrical Engineer.
Pushing a tracing pen for six years was more than enough for him so when he saw an advertisement to join Eskom as a Mechanical Operating Assistant at the then biggest power station in the Southern Hemisphere, he applied and was stationed at the Klip Power Station (standby power generation 350 MW!) in Vereeniging in 1953, where he met Dave Pym also doing the learnership. During his two years at Klip he studied for the electrical Ticket and passed after three attempts. But he hankered for Cape Town and Table Mountain - in Vereeniging you're in the Flat Earth Society.
Jerome applied to Eskom in Cape Town and was appointed Shift Engineer at the showpiece Hex River power station in Worcester where he spent a year and where his fifth daughter Eunice was born.
His first job as a Certificated Engineer was in Stellenbosch at the General Box Company (now Mondiboard?). He got the job because the other candidate withdrew. General Box Company produced doors, parquet flooring and lumberboard. The MD, Kees Bruynzeel, built the yacht Zeeslang and as far as we know the Voortrekker.
After less than two years he joined Waverly blankets in Mowbray and during the two years that followed he passed the Mechanical Engineer's Ticket. He also obtained his Installation electrician's license, which was required due to the wiring work he was doing.
Jerome’s next job was factory engineer at Mossop & Son in Rondebosch who produced bottom leather. In 1964 a carpenter working for a Paarl contractor who built tanning drums was killed when he was caught by a rotating shaft whilst building a drum in the factory. Dave Pym came to do the on site inspection and they chatted about salaries. Dave was receiving R15 per month more than Jerome even though he was the responsible person in charge and had a fatal accident on his hands! Inspector Warman conducted the inquiry and recommended a prosecution because of the unguarded shaft 6ft 6ins above the floor. As the carpenter had been under the immediate supervision of his own foreman and the man had stood on a 44 gal drum, which brought him into dangerous proximity of the shaft end, which was normally beyond reach, the charge was withdrawn.
Jerome then decided to join the Inspectorate as an Inspector of Machinery (for which you needed the Ticket in those days) and retired in February 1990 after 25 interesting years.
To quote Jerome, “Our duties covered a wide range of activities: machinery inspections at factories, building work inspections at building sites, excavation work, boilers, elevators and accident investigation. I was particularly interested in steam boilers and the causes of corrosion. Then when the Inspectorate decided that boiler and pressure vessel users should provide their own persons whom the users thought were competent to do these inspections I got the idea that I could set up a private course to help these persons to become truly competent to inspect this equipment. So for three years I ran an annual three-day hands-on course under the patronage of the Western Province branch of ICMEE. Our ICMEE Council was not interested in taking on the patronage - and so missed a golden opportunity to win recognition in this field of legal safety. I had to take leave for these three-day courses and as a civil servant is not allowed to earn money privately (being so richly remunerated as we were) the course fee went to the local branch. After the three years the Department generously credited me with the nine days' leave. After I retired in February 1990 I continued with the courses and later joined up with John Thompson Africa in running a five-day course, which incorporated my three-day portion. Successful students received a beautiful Certificate of Proficiency with ICMEE's coat of arms and I was rewarded with life long membership of our Institution. These courses ran from 1987 to 1998 and 322 persons received certificates. From October 1998 the SAQCC started the new system of Competent Person and John Thompson ran courses to prepare for the new boiler examinations, until 2003. Yours truly passed the examination whilst lecturing the students for the same exam!

I am pleased to give credit to my colleague Adrain Wyntje who undertook the practical side of these courses when arthritis took its toll of my joints. We were born of the same day but he is much fitter even though we are both rapidly approaching 80.”
In 1995, Jerome volunteered to act as editor for a Western Cape News Bulletin. He was very instrumental in the setting up of the format and layout, including the heading on the leading page. He also managed to talk his son-in–law Revere Thomson (who is a medical doctor) to carry out the type setting and conversion into pdf (Acrobat) format. 2004 saw the publication of volume 10 of the news bulletin! In all respects, Jerome has exceeded all expectations as far as the news bulletin is concerned.
As one can see, Jerome has indeed had a very active life and has spent a lot of his time on ICMEE and Certificated Engineer related issues in the Western Cape. He is still a serving member on the WC Committee.

We salute you, Jerome, for your dedication to ICMEESA, Certificated Engineers and the profession as a whole!

Membership trends

It is once again exciting to see the positive trend in the membership figures. The total new membership for 2004 is 62 members, which is the highest in the last few years. Engineering remains male dominated with only one new female member.
The new membership is in the following membership grades:
Students = 39
Members = 19
Associate = 3
Senior Member = 1
 

Welcome to new members for 2004