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Trans-Caledon Times

ISSUE NO. 3 I 2021 - 22 30 SEPTEMBER 2021

Celebrating Heritage Month Your quarterly newsletter for Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority

IN THIS ISSUE

CEO Staff Address

Knowledge session explores ways to optimise PPPs

New Corporate Website goes Live

Traveils of deafness

Continue Living the TCTA Values Anita Saunders

South African Sign Language

I am an African - Thabo Mbeki

10.

Quotes

11.

TCTA Heritage Pictures

Knowledge session explores ways to optimise PPPs

artnering with the private sector in infrastructure delivery projects mitigated risks and enhanced value for money and cost efficiencies, TCTA staff taking part in a recent Knowledge-Sharing Session (KSS) universally agreed. The gathering themed Optimising Cooperation Between Public and Private Partners in Infrastructure Projects came against the backdrop of the intensifying government focus on infrastructure as a catalyst for economic growth. In the 2020-21 financial year, the republic spent over R220 billion on infrastructure. In the medium term, the government has earmarked R791 billion for infrastructure development as part of the National Economic Recovery Plan. It has further established an Infrastructure Fund ran and managed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa. TCTA has used the traditional engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracting model for most infrastructure projects. Under this arrangement, a public sector entity procures asset design and construction services from private consultants and contractors and assumes financial and operational risks. The KSS noted the criticism that the EPC form of cooperation was inadequate to ensure the successful delivery of projects, resulting in poor infrastructure delivery performance. The growing trend was to adopt new contract, partnership or cooperation forms designed to share or transfer more risk to the private sector. One of the typical collaboration arrangements is the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), often established under the terms of Build, Operate and Transfer; Build,

Own and Operate; Design, Build, Finance and Operate; and Design, Build, Finance and Operate. Several types of PPPs are available, each type informed by the risks or responsibilities assigned to the project organisation. The session identified the following PPPs as common in the infrastructure development sectors: The session acknowledged that the water sector was lagging its energy counterpart, for instance, in embracing the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The participants recognised that the two sectors operated in materially different terrains in terms of the potential for cost recovery and profitability. They underscored that South Africa treated water as a public good and the willingness to pay for the resource was often low. However, there is still scope to better leverage private sector participation in rolling out water infrastructure. Already, TCTA was exploring novel ways of partnering for the Berg River-Voëlvlei Augmentation Scheme projects. The KSS participants warned that new partnership arrangements were not a panacea for successful infrastructure delivery. For one, they relied on a combined project organisation that can fall or stand based on factors including its architecture, governance arrangements and leadership. Other critical success determinants include sufficient delegation of executive power by public and private partners and optimisation of decision-making structures. The KSS was convened by the Strategy Division as part of the knowledge agenda and held on 21 September 2021 via the Microsoft Teams platform.

Traditional cooperation approach in public sector infrastructure projects

The new cooperation approach in public sector infrastructure projects

Traditional public infrastructure delivery model

NEW CORPORATE WEBSITE GOES LIVE

The new TCTA website went live on 08 September, following months of work to simply and enhance the use experience and grow visitor traffic to the site. The new website has a slick modern design that boasts high resolution quality, giving a clean and crisp look and feel. It is further device compatible and easily adjusts to any kind of device that it is been accessed from – whether a laptop, tablet or even a smartphone. Crucially, the website comes fully equipped with simple and enhanced navigation for improved and easier access to information. Uncomplicated navigability, together with the tools to enable quick and easy information uploads, were key among the objectives of the website revamp.

The website is a living platform and will continuously to improved based on the feedback received from both internal and external users. Staff members are, therefore, encouraged to explore and share their impressions and inputs with the Communication team. It boasts enhanced analytics that will provide intelligence including visitor numbers and usage patterns, which inform future development plans. Communication and Stakeholders worked in conjunction with Republican Creative Design on the redesign phase project. The external service provider has been contracted to provide ongoing support to TCTA in respect of the website. Staff Writer

TRAVAILS OF DEAFNESS them. I taught myself to “hear” by recognising and memorising the sounds of, for example, door knocking, dog barking and aeroplane roaring. When I hear any unrecognised or new sound, I ask as I insist, what is that sound? Then they would, for example, tell me it is a vacuum cleaner, and I then memorise the sound. I learned to “hear the voice of people talking” and watch movies or TV series with subtitles. When I read subtitles and hear the voices and the word pronunciation, no matter the accent, I also need to lipread. I hear and lipread at the same time. Using hearing aids does not mean I hear as you hear. It is hard work. Even today, I am still learning. It might sound strange to you when I say I dislike loud music and noisy group chats. I can hear people talking but cannot follow what they are saying. To me, they sound like duck duck, duck, duck repeated. I am not too fond of group meetings because I have to concentrate on one speaker, and, sometimes, while doing so, another speaker chips in, and I have to find out who and lose the flow of the conversation. MS Teams video has captions, which I switch on to follow what is being said in virtual meetings, but it is not 100 percent accurate because of the different accents. But it is better than nothing.

Belinda Hogan - desktop Publisher

ello, how are you? I am good. I am Belinda Hogan. I was born deaf, but my family only found that out when I was three years old because I was not talking. I had bilateral severe to profound hearing loss. The cause of my deafness is that I have undeveloped hearing nerves growth. I went to St Vincent School for the Deaf at three years old. My parents sent me there because, at that time, it was one of the best deaf schools in the world. Its standard of education compared favourably with hearing schools. I was privileged to go to St. Vincent School. It was a strong oral school where sign language was forbidden in the classes, but sign language was allowed during tea breaks and after school hours. I had to learn to sign from the older learners. I spent hours on speech lessons in early school only up to Grade 2 and otherwise took private speech lessons. It was mainly my parents who supported and taught me to speak well. With the help of my hearing aids, I am “hard of hearing.” Without them, I can’t hear anything, and I am lost without

Wherever I go out shopping or to the hospital, when I do not follow what someone says, I request them to repeat themselves because I have hearing problems. Most of the time, they freeze and say, I am lying—there is no way I am deaf. Some think it is because I am a foreign national that I cannot understand them. Often, I end up having to show them my hearing aids and only then they would apologise. In one instance, during a medical consultation, the specialist asked me how I became deaf, and I said since birth. He was surprised and told me he thought I was born hearing and went deaf at 12 years old because of my speech. I told him I spent many years in speech lessons. I am honoured and grateful to my parents for the speech lessons and their support. Now, it is more challenging for me to go out because of the masks we all have to wear because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Every time I go, I have to tell people I cannot hear, and some of them shout at me. I can hear them but cannot understand what they are saying because I need to read the lips. I have to say, please don’t shout, I need to read the lip, please write down. Most of them do or use gestures. It is not easy, but it is life. If you have any questions, please don’t be shy to email me. God bless and goodbye!

“Continue Living the TCTA Values,” Anita Saunders At TCTA, we do strive for excellence and always try to improve on our communication and working together, and that’s what makes it a great company to work for. And what will you miss the most about this company? Being part of a great team! Speaking of a great team, would you ever consider returning? I would consider returning; as I said, it’s a great organisation to work for, but if I ever do, it will only be on a temporary basis to assist if there is a crisis or to assist in training. What did you enjoy most about your job? I loved helping other staff members with the enquiries. It gave me great joy making sure that all staff and suppliers payments were paid on time. What was your worst day at the job?

Anita Sanders has been a member of the TCTA family since 2005. She has, without a doubt, welcomed most of us to the organisation. In addition to her friendliness, most of us will remember Anita for the timeous payments of our subsistence and travel claims. As we bid farewell to Anita, we had a chat with her about her journey at TCTA and to see if we could perhaps convince her to stay a little bit longer. So why are you leaving us at TCTA after so many years? Yes, it has been a long time, and I have enjoyed every moment, but I have decided it’s time for me to take a rest, so I’m going on early retirement. You’ve been with TCTA for about 15 years, and I’m sure you have lots of fun memories. Can you share some? Most definitely, I had my fun at the organisation. I was part of the trip to the Katse dam with our partners. The TCTA team building at Mount Grace was great. There was also a Finance trip to Berg River and teambuilding at Mabalingwe Nature Reserve. Those are just some of the best moments for me at TCTA. Any achievements that you would like to share with us during your time at TCTA? I was awarded the 2015/2016 TCTA Vuma Ambassador and the 2016/2017 Integrity Ambassador. Your achievements are related to our values; how would you describe the TCTA culture?

I will never forget the day, in 2012, when I paid an invoice to one of our suppliers, only to realise later that it was a fraudulent invoice with fraudulent banking details. Luckily, two days later, we were able to recover the money from the bank due to the fact that the fraudsters hadn’t withdrawn the money from the account, and the bank paid the money back to TCTA. Sounds hectic, but at least you recovered the money; how did you feel in those two days? I felt really sick and so stressed, I felt I had failed TCTA because I didn’t pick it up. I hardly slept for nights thinking and working out new controls to protect myself and TCTA. We payout big amounts monthly. This is why I avoid making emergency payments and why, at times, I am so difficult when it comes to banking details. What advice would you give for TCTA to be an even better organisation? Live the values of TCTA: Excellence, Integrity, Respect, Growth and Unity Just briefly, who is Anita outside of TCTA? Anita is a mother of two sons, married for the past 37 years and counting. I love baking and cooking, and I also enjoy working with meat and making our own boerewors, biltong and interesting sausages. I spend most of my time working in my garden. I enjoy flyfishing and spending time at the Vaal dam. And oh, I also have a Jack Russell. How do you think the future of TCTA looks like? With the talk of the Agency, I am not sure how the future will look like, but I wish only the best for TCTA.

COMMENTS FROM ANITA’S COLLEAGUES HOW WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH ANITA?

GERDA

I have worked with Anita for more than 10years; she always did her work diligently to meet her deadlines. She will most of the time offer and volunteer her time if the team faces challenges just so that the team meets its objectives.

Anita, I will seriously miss you! I pray that you will have lots of relaxing days in the garden and time to experiment in the kitchen – I will drop by for cake anytime. All the best, enjoy every minute.

I met Anita in 2004 when we started at TCTA. Anita has been part of one of the biggest teams In the past 17 years, Anita has been a rock in in TCTA, the CFO Division. We spoke to a few of Finance. She is one of the most conscientious those colleagues just to get an insight as to how people I have ever met; she is dedicated, harddid she conduct herself on a daily. working and trustworthy. The other side of Anita we got to know and love is her love for fun and LEBOGANG the Finance and Treasury “braais”.

I would say she’s a hard worker in approaching every challenge that she and the team face, her willingness to assist the team in meeting its goals and putting her full effort into everything that she does. Thank you, Nittie! You’ve been a great colleague; working without you is going to be so different. You will be greatly missed. Good luck, and I wish you all the best for the future.

NOMVULA (MTHETHWA) Anita is a wonderful person, always full of laughs and snacks. She is extremely dependable and gets the job done. It’s no wonder that so many colleagues rely on her. Anita, I hope that your days are filled with laughter and snacks. HASAN

BIBBY

Farewell to a colleague whose word we trusted more than operating procedures, checklists and Working with Anita was very peaceful; she is very manuals. Your knowledge and experience were professional in her work. I like how she used to always beyond par. I have learned a lot from greet me in the morning, like “morning Skeem”. you during your time here. Your contributions She’s always maintained her integrity. to this organisation have been immense and tremendous. Nita, it was nice meeting you. Farewell is not easy but go and enjoy your time with the family. Monthly targets and performance will come Don’t paint the house; it’s time to relax and take and go, but the memories of working with a it easy. colleague like you will stay in my heart forever. I just wanted to take this moment to let you know GODFREY how interesting it was working with someone like you and to say goodbye. It has been an honour Anita is a hard worker but easy-going at the same working with a wonderful colleague like you for time; I enjoyed working with her. I will miss the so long. Thank you for your help and kindness. I way that she was always able to assist urgently wish you the best of luck and continued success and without a complaint. wherever you may find yourself. You will be missed, Tannie. Keep well, Anita, and you have left a good example at TCTA and on us as your team members. 8

South African Sign Language

To learn sign language, there are videos on YouTube, if you use it, make sure you use SASL (South African Sign Language) NOT ASL (American Sign Language) There is a site http://www.realsasl.com/ to learn more sign language, which is FREE. They offered 21 Days SASL Home courses videos on YouTube. Go to this site as Day one, https://youtu.be/cvNkmRjy1Ic you then click Day two there. Challenge yourself and learn from 21 Days SASL! 9

I am an African – by Thabo Mbeki I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the everchanging seasons that define the face of our native land. My body has frozen in our frosts and in our latter day snows. It has thawed in the warmth of our sunshine and melted in the heat of the midday sun. The crack and the rumble of the summer thunders, lashed by startling lightening, have been a cause both of trembling and of hope. The fragrances of nature have been as pleasant to us as the sight of the wild blooms of the citizens of the veld. The dramatic shapes of the Drakensberg, the soilcoloured waters of the Lekoa, iGqili noThukela, and the sands of the Kgalagadi, have all been panels of the set on the natural stage on which we act out the foolish deeds of the theatre of our day. At times, and in fear, I have wondered whether I should concede equal citizenship of our country to the leopard and the lion, the elephant and the springbok, the hyena, the black mamba and the pestilential mosquito. A human presence among all these, a feature on the face of our native land thus defined, I know that none dare challenge me when I say – I am an African! I owe my being to the Khoi and the San whose desolate souls haunt the great expanses of the beautiful Cape – they who fell victim to the most merciless genocide our native land has ever seen, they who were the first to lose their lives in the struggle to defend our freedom and dependence and they who, as a people, perished in the result.

stripes they bore on their bodies from the lash of the slave master are a reminder embossed on my consciousness of what should not be done.

I am the grandchild of the warrior men and women that Hintsa and Sekhukhune led, the patriots that Cetshwayo and Mphephu took to battle, the soldiers Moshoeshoe and Ngungunyane taught never to dishonour the cause of freedom. My mind and my knowledge of myself is formed by the victories that are the jewels in our African crown, the victories we earned from Isandhlwana to Khartoum, as Ethiopians and as the Ashanti of Ghana, as the Berbers of the desert. I am the grandchild who lays fresh flowers on the Boer graves at St Helena and the Bahamas, who sees in the mind’s eye and suffers the suffering of a simple peasant folk, death, concentration camps, destroyed homesteads, a dream in ruins. I am the child of Nongqause. I am he who made it possible to trade in the world markets in diamonds, in gold, in the same food for which my stomach yearns. I come of those who were transported from India and China, whose being resided in the fact, solely, that they were able to provide physical labour, who taught me that we could both be at home and be foreign, who taught me that human existence itself demanded that freedom was a necessary condition for that human existence. Being part of all these people, and in the knowledge that none dare contest that assertion, I shall claim that – I am an African. Today it feels good to be an African

Today, as a country, we keep an audible silence about these ancestors of the generations that live, fearful to admit the horror of a former deed, seeking to obliterate from our memories a cruel occurrence which, in its remembering, should teach us not and never to be inhuman again. I am formed of the migrants who left Europe to find a new home on our native land. Whatever their own actions, they remain still, part of me. In my veins courses the blood of the Malay slaves who came from the East. Their proud dignity informs my bearing, their culture a part of my essence. The 10

South Africa is the most beautiful place on earth. Admittedly, I am biased but when you combine the natural beauty... and the fact that the region is a haven for Africa’s most splendid wildlife... Then I think that we have been blessed with a truly wonderful land – Nelson Mandela I am an African. I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land.’– Thabo Mbeki Peace does not fare well where poverty and deprivation reign. It does not flourish where there is ignorance and a lack of education and information - Frederik Willem de Klerk We have our own history, our own language, our own culture. But our destiny is also tied up with the destinies of other people - history has made us all South Africans. Mangosuthu Buthelezi Be careful, think about the effect of what you say. Your words should be constructive, bring people together, not pull them apart. - Miriam Makeba Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die. - Paul Simon 11

TCTA MISSION, VISION AND VALUES To be the leader in the sustainable supply of water in the region.

To facilitate water security through the planning, financing and implementation of bulk raw water infrastructure, in the most cost-effective manner that benefits water consumers.

Tuinhof Building Ground Floor Stinkhout Building 265 West Avenue Centurion 0046 Tel: +27 12 683 1200 Email: info@tcta.co.za

@tctapage

@TCTA_RSA

@TCTA (Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority)