RITZ Pumps South Africa supply a wide range of pumps from German company Andritz.

In this month’s Hot Seat, Molefe Seth Phalatse, chairman of RITZ Pumps South Africa, shows how this small company – with only 11 employees – is able to maximise its resources to create value and supply these high-quality pumps.

Can you sum up RITZ Pumps South Africa’s history and its current structure?

MSP RITZ Pumps South Africa was formed in 2006 as a joint venture with Andritz RITZ. 23% is owned by Andritz RITZ, and 77% by South African owned – of which 67% is black-owned and a substantial portion of this is owned by women.

What are the stand-out applications of RITZ Pumps’ products?

Our capacity to pump acid mine drainage (AMD) as well as dewater flooded mines from surface, while we and ensure that acceptable levels are maintained so that there is no over flooding, is unparalleled.

AMD poses a significant risk to the environment and our pumps are uniquely suited to deal with the issue. This is because they are double suction pumps, each capable of pumping 1 500 m³/hour.We are currently pumping up to 84 million litres of AMD out of the Central Basin every day.

We have two of these pumps – 1 500 m³/hour (combined 3 000 m³/hour) – installed in Central Basin, two more pumps – 1 500 m³/hour (combined 3 000 m³/hour) – on-site for the Western Basin and will install three more pumps – 1 500 m³/hour (combined 4 500 m³/hour) – in the Eastern Basin this year.

As a leader in Conduit Hydropower, please tell us about your recently completed Annlin Reservoir project in the City of Tshwane?

Read more here.