The Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufacturer’s Association (SAPPMA) held its 9^th Annual General Meeting at the Bytes Conference Centre in Midrand on Tuesday 20 August. The meeting was well attended by members belonging to SAPPMA, its sister organisation, IFPA (Installation and Fabrication Plastics Pipe Association), the media and other interested parties.

Keynote Speaker Encourages Entrepreneurship

The keynote speaker at the event was Dr Taddy Blecher, Chairperson of the SA National Government task team on Entrepreneurship, Education and Job Creation, and CEO of the Maharishi Institute and the Community and Individual Development Association.  Dr Blecher challenged and encouraged South African companies to support entrepreneurship in order to address the growing problem of unemployment and poverty in our country.  He highlighted the importance of creating sustainable employment in order to move South Africa into a brighter future.

“In the words of Nelson Mandela, education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world,” Blecher told the audience.

SAPPA Board Members announced

Jan Venter, Chairman of SAPPMA announced the new Board of Directors who will be leading the association in the coming year.  They are:

• Mike Biesheuvel (Sasol Polymers)
• Louis Albertyn (Marley Pipe Systems)
• Hein Momberg (Fiberpipe)
• Vijay Naik (Flo-tek)
• Gerhard Kotzee (DPI Plastics)

Merit Award Winners

Mr Venter also used the occasion to announce the winners of the annual merit awards, a bronze medal that has been awarded to individual members of the Technical Committee since 2008 in recognition for their individual contributions and frequency of attending meetings.  “The work done by the SAPPMA Technical Committee is extremely important and is essentially the heart of the Association”, Venter said.

The 2013 awards consisting of a bronze medal and a certificate went to the following recipients:

• Renier Snyman (DPI Plastics).  Renier also received a plaque as this was the 5^th time that he was announced as recipient of the SAPPMA meritorious awards.
• Mike Smart (Flo-tek)
• George Diliyannis (Safripol)
• Ralph Mosikidi (Marley Pipe Systems).

In conclusion,Venter thanked SAPPMA members for their passion and dedication this past year. “Plastic is no longer viewed as a cheap alternative or foreign material as it was in years gone by.  It has finally taken its rightful place on the world stage as material that is recognised for playing an absolute and critical role in all areas of modern life, including piping systems”, Venter said.

Despite a tough environment and rising costs associated with the manufacturing, transportation and installation, Venter reiterated that SAPPMA continues to raise the bar of standards for their members and their industry.  “We realize that we live in a world where compromise is rife.  However, we feel strongly that for us “good enough” is quite simply no longer good enough.  We are proud of the fact that we were able to meet all of the objectives we had set for ourselves during last year’s AGM, but we will continue to try harder, produce smarter and waste less.  Our members will continue to produce plastic pipes that provide stable and reliable infrastructures for generations to come,” Venter concluded.