The Institution of Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, South Africa

The President and Council of ICMEESA wish all our members and their families,’ best wishes for the upcoming festive season and trust that 2009 will truly be a happy and prosperous new year for you all.

Notice of and Invitation to the ICMEESA Annual General Meeting

The President of The Institution of Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, South Africa, has pleasure in inviting you, as a member of the Institution, to attend the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Date: Thursday 05 March 2009
Time : 15:30 for 16:00
Venue: In the Telescope Auditorium, 18A Gill Street, Observatory, Johannesburg.
Dress: Formal
RSVP: The Secretary, Mrs. Fiona Revolta, before 27 February 2009
A Cocktail Party in the Dome will follow the AGM

Nomination of office Bearers for 2009.

In accordance with clause 3.4 of the constitution: The President, Vice Presidents and Honorary Treasurer for the ensuing year shall be Members of the Institution and shall be elected by the Council. Their election shall be announced at the Council Meeting of the Institution immediately preceding the Annual General Meeting.
At the Council meeting held on 4th November 2008, the following members were provisionally elected to serve council for 2009. These elections will constitutionally be announced at the meeting to be held on 28th January 2009, which will precede the Annual General meeting:
Office Bearers Nominated:
President: Jack Cunnington
Immediate Past President: Chris Schnehage
Senior Vice President: Obed Letsholo
Honorary Treasurer: Robbie Holmwood

Elected Council members: A du Plessis, I Buchanan, Dr G A Müller, Vaughan Townsend du Toit Grobler, Klaus Schönteich (KZN Branch), Henry Lambert (2nd Term) (Gauteng Branch), Buzile Alam (Gauteng Branch) Branch Chairpersons:
Central Branch – Dave Reading Klerksdorp - Rustenburg – Jonathan Dawson (Representative) Western Cape – Chris Schnehage KwaZulu-Natal - Sibusiso Ngema Free State – Ian Buchanan Eastern Cape – Greg Clack

Financial Status 2008

It is now a pleasure to report with such regular monotony on the sound financial state of our institution. Again, thank you to you, the members for your positive reaction to the prompt payment of subscription fees. With the sound control of operational costs by our secretary, Mrs Fiona Revolta, the income from subscriptions exceeded expenditure, resulting in us ending the year with a slight surplus on operational expenditure. The financial statements will be submitted to the auditors for formal presentation at the Annual General Meeting on 5th March 2009. We have managed to maintain this healthy trend for the past few years and have managed to accumulate a healthy foundation to cater for any unforeseen expenditures. Subscription income is our main source of income with which we need to operate the administrative function of the Institution. This includes the payment of 10% of subscriptions received, to the various Branches on a pro rata basis of membership subscriptions received from members of that Branch. This is to cover administrative costs of branch activities. Hence the reference above to “operational” expenditure, as it ignores income from interest from investments, and income from the WP Jones Bursary Trust Fund.

Membership Subscriptions for 2009

At the November Council meeting it was agreed that subscription increases will be restricted to a 6% increase. For the main membership base of Member and Senior Member grades it is a R32 increase. The subscription fees for 2009, including VAT, will be as follows:

Senior R 570.00
Member R 570.00
Associate R 570.00
Student R 448.00
Patron R 1141.00
Retired <20 R 285.00
Retired >20 R 143.00

Study Bursary Scheme

Members are reminded that ICMEESA does have a bursary scheme for students studying Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. This is for either University studies or Technikon. Although bursaries are not restricted to our members’ families, they will be given favourable consideration.
With the continued financial support from WP Jones trust fund the bursary scheme has developed to more than just being able to make a minor contribution towards studies. We now offer full support of all tuition fees and associated cost of study material. We now also have the ability to support the student for the full course, depending on the results achieved for the previous year. Should the bursar not perform academically by passing the required examinations, the continued bursary support will, for obvious reasons, be reviewed by council. Previous bursars have received support for the entire course. Members can contact the secretary for application forms and more information. Members are also encouraged to refer needy students to us for consideration as a bursar.

Membership Trends

The above graph shows the continued positive trend for the new membership figures for the previous number of years has culminated in a record of 70 new members for 2008. Recruiting new members is one thing, but more importantly is the retention of those members. Communication is a critical factor in retaining members as they need to be aware of the “value add” that membership brings. Much of the value is of an indirect nature, through ICMEESA member representation and involvement in professional bodies affecting the engineering environment. This involvement however, needs to be communicated to the members so that they are fully aware of the factors affecting the profession. Communication to members has, over the past few years, improved through the distribution of this Newsletter, the Western Cape Branch Bulletins, website and magazines such as Vector. The lack of membership resignations indicates that we are satisfying the vast majority of the membership base. We request feedback from you, the members, on where you feel we can improve in satisfying your need. Please communicate your comment and any criticism to us. In previous years, branch activity was no doubt the heart of the Institution. This has changed in line with many similar and sister organizations, where member involvement is of major concern. With reduced branch activity, the emphasis must be on the alternative communication channels ensure that we keep the members informed.To be effective in postal communication, the updating of members contact addresses is vital, so we urge members to please remind members that have relocated and changed employers to please keep us updated with this information. It is this lack of information that leads to what we term “lost” members. Mail is returned address unknown and we are unable to contact the member by other means. Our Constitution requires that members not in good standing, through paid up subscription fees, cease to be members. Our administrative problem is that we receive payment where we are unable to link the payment to the specific member. This occurs when payments are made without the correct reference number being used. This mostly occurs when payments are made on behalf of the member by his employer without using the correct reference number. This is further complicated when companies make bulk payments on behalf of a group of members. Without the reference number it is impossible for the secretary to associate the payment to the specific member. The reference number shown on the invoice is the member’s membership number, preceded by the year invoiced. We request members to have the employer fax or mail a remittance note to ICMEESA, listing the names of the members paid for, if they are unable to use our requested reference number. Members are encouraged to regularly update their contact details:

Telephonically; by phoning the secretary who can update or check the database.
Online; by updating the contact information on the website at www.icmeesa.com.
New members can also sign on by completing the online application form on the website, which takes a few minutes to complete and submit electronically.

Should a member wish to resume membership, as a result of having lost contact due to omission to update his address, Council will review continued membership without the member having to pay arrears subscriptions.

New Members 2008

Of interest are the new member membership grades, which show that 40% of new membership is categories other than students. Membership grades are as follows: 22 = Members; 3 = Associate; 4 = Senior 41 = Students We welcome the following new members that have joined in 2008. May your association with ICMEESA be long and meaningful.

Membership Grade Title Surname Initials Branch

Member Mr Abbott SH Klerksdorp

Student Mr Ansah RB Central

Student Mr Augumeb MB International

Member Mr Barr RE Kwazulu

Student Mr Bentil JKA Eastcape

Senior Mr Blair JC Eastcape

Associate Mr Borate HG Kwazulu

Student Mr Botha LE Kwazulu

Member Mr Bruwer AA Klerksdorp

Student Mr Carter WR Kwazulu

Student Miss Cele NE Kwazulu

Student Mr de Meillon EA Eastcape

Student Mrs Delport L Westcape

Student Mr Dladla BJ Kwazulu

Student Mr Dlamini BN Kwazulu

Member Mr du Plessis JS Westcape

Member Mr Dunkley PG Gauteng

Student Mr Els NJ Gauteng

Member Mr Fourie JR Gauteng

Member Mr Gee JE Freestate

Member Mr Glennie D Kwazulu

Member Mr Govender M Kwazulu

Member Mr Govender KS Kwazulu

Student Mr Gwebu MN International

Member Mr Hahn WA International

Student Mr Hendricks HV Westcape

Senior Mr Johnson GE Gauteng

Member Mr Kloppers SJ Eastcape

Senior Mr Knott B Gauteng

Student Mr Krishna D Kwazulu

Student Mr Lereka LJ Freestate

Member Mr Lukhele SM Gauteng

Student Mr Madaka BS Westcape

Member Mr Marumo D Rustenburg

Student Mr Masike AK Gauteng

Associate Mr Mathews S Gauteng

Student Mr Matola MM Kwazulu

Member Mr McCarthy LQ Eastcape

Senior Mr Meijer M Gauteng

Student Mr Mhlongo MW Westcape

Student Mr Mokgosi Y Gauteng

Student Mr Molabe PP Gauteng

Student Mr Mpunzana EN Kwazulu

Student Mr Mthandi AT Westcape

Built Environment Professions Bill withdrawn

The controversial Built Environment Professions Bill has been withdrawn. It was stated that a number of the technical and legal details contained within the Bill overlapped and needed to be reworked before it could be tabled again in Parliament. In addition, the Built Environment Professions Bill had not been subjected to the Nedlac process whereby various public and private stakeholders had an opportunity to review the Bill. The Department of Public Works was embarking on a process whereby all stakeholders would be consulted on the Bill “properly” before its promulgation. The Minister conceded that there were many “convincing concerns” and that the department would have to “listen to both sides of the story” before the Bill could be tabled again. If the