Grinaker Gazette - March 1983 - Vol 1 No. 18

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GRMKER EZETTE

MARCH 1983 VOL 1 NO

18

The role of strategic marketing at, then designing our product specitically for that market segment including product design, quality level, service level, cost level, pricing policy and lastly deciding how to reach the target customer segment, which is the sales and promotion pa erroneously regarded by many to be 'marketing'.

by Eugene Sadie

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Eugene Sadie matriculated at Helpmekaar and obtained a B.Sc. in civil engineering from Wits University in 1962. He joined the Grinakergroup in 1963 on the design and con,truction side and was lransferred to Grinaker Preeast in 1967. He has been managing director of Grinaket Precast since 1973 and has achieved considercble prominence in the field ol precast concrete. He is also a director of Grin?ket Holdings Limited. There are still many people who think'marketing' is .just a fancy word for smooth public relations exercises and advertising. However, the fact is that any company that does work.for or sells anything to a client with the object of making a profit, is in marketing, whether they realize it or not. Marketing, or lor that matter stralegic markeling, is really the whole running of the business and embraces all aspects of the company.

Business is a wartare, a warfare between competitors, and the prize !s winning the customer's order at a protitable p.ice. ln business we therefore need to know why we are currently compelitive because if we don't there's a danger of losing it. We also need 1o know how we inlend remaining competitive in the iuture. The processo{doing this is what st.alegic marketing, sometimes also referred to as strategic planning, is all about. Strategic marketing is firstly planning our business so as to concentrate on those business areas whele we have (or can have) the mosl competitive edge and secondly Greating sustainable competitive advantages, i.e. building protective barriers around our strongholds in a conscious and planned manner, therâ&#x201A;Źby making ihe whole business more protitable. This is done by firstly identitying lhat market segment or group of custoners that we are aiming Gtin.kdt

Gazeno Match l9A3

The emphasis in business managemenl has over the past number ot decades gone tirst from being production orientated, then to sales orientated, then to marketing orientated and currently the accent is on strategic marketing as the key to long term protits.

when looking back at the development within Grinaker Precast over the years, the above shilt in emphasis is illustrated quite clearly. During the sixties, Precast was a one-product, one-cuslomer company manuiacturing railway sleepers for the SAR. The emphasis was on production, to develop the produclion processes and skills in order to produce the required volumes at the required quality levels at the lowest possible cost. Then during the late sixties and early seventies, the

vulnerability

of

having one product and

one

cuslomer was realized. A programme o1 diversifying into more products and mo.e

customers was embarked upon, resulting in the introduclion ot G-Bloks, Stelcon, siding and mine sleepers. Then ou r problem wasn't so much how to produce the products, bul more how to sell them, developing sales and promotional techniques and skills. During the late seventies and early eight:es there was once again a shift in emphasis as competition became more f ierce and it became evident that we could not be all things to all people. The problem ihen became one not so much ol selling but rather of strategic marketing i.e. looking at our businesses in a slrategic way, being aware of whaland where our competitive edges are now and in the tuture and planning our business etlorts accordingly. For example, whereas G-Bloks had before been sold to everyone, we focussed ln on the industrial market in which we were most competitive. We redesigned our product into a compiete paving

package including design, construction and

guarantee and began specializing in industrial applications. 8y doing this we were able to obtain a much larger market share in that particular customer segment, strengthen our competitiveness and improve our protitability. What does all this mean f or Grinaker companies? lt means that it isn't sufficient lor us to only work hard and efficiently, which is obviously a vital ingredient in our lormula {or success. ln addition we n6ed to know how we are aclually running our businesses and to run ihem in a planned manner using strategic markeling principlâ&#x201A;Źs, rather than just trying to compete lrom year to year without having any inherent advantages, without which it will be difficult to make above average prof ils.

Standard Bank computer centre

No peep holes. Model of the new Standard Bank computer centre in Westville

by John Lucas Late

in

1982 our tender depart-

ment applied themselves in

a

most aggressive way, and quite successfully loo, for the Standard

Bank contract in Westville was the resull. lt's not a bank in conventional terminology but the centre for administration via that re ma rkab le piece of modern science - the computer. The contract is tairly large at R6,5 million and the time short -it's to be finished in November lh is year.

The structure comprises essentially two main components: the computer block and the office block. The computer block js, il one can imagine it, one large reservoir inside another. The olfice block is fairly conventional, and somewhat futuristic at the sa me time, being wrapped around the computer block on two sides. Rain prevented us from getting off to a resounding start after the Christmas break and it was with Atinaket Aazetle Malch 1983

lrustration that the chaps on site d utifu lly attended in the mornings only to be sent home again. Howeve r, once fair weather g raced us, the site adopted a diflerent guise very q uickly. Alan Dawson runs the job as contracts manager, I am site agent and Barry Steenhuisen will take

many

ol the worries on

his

shoulders as assistant site agent. Basie Schutte is general foreman, Porky von Berg handles survey and Jim Ross is bulk earthworks general f oreman. George Roberts is charge hand bricklayer, Keith N4eyer and Steve Nicolay are

trainee engineers and Edward

Mcineka is site clerk. There will be one or two more as the job progresses and the next re port will include those.

Part of the batch plant arrives

Foundations go down deep

The Grinaker Gazette

is published as a house iournal by Grinaker Holdings Limited. Viewpoints expres$ed are not necessarily shared by the publishers or the editor.

Standard Bank team. Back: Steve Nicolay, Porky von Berg, Keith Meyer, George Roberts, Jomas Ngwase, Edward Mcineka. Front: Barry Steenhuisen, Bobby Coopoosamy, Basie Schutte

EDITOR: Michael Sandrock

PUBLISHING ASSISTANTS: Diana Hallowes, Allyson Armstrong AFEA COBRESPONDENTS:

Peter Blofield, Amalgamated Reinforcing, Natal Ted Todd, Bay Stone Sales An d

rea Nelson,

Gweru,

Zimbabwe

Grina ke r Plant: Russell Cowdrey, Harry Mahraj, Jack Denz

Schalk Vorster, Grinel Deryck Howard, Durban/New Germany Peter Keni, Grinaker Concrete Construction

Standard Bank site in the Westville buslness area

Nico Maas, S.A.

Piled

Foundations

Brian Stobbart,

G

rinaker

North lan Friend, Grinaker (Cape)

ry Warrior, Grinaker

Ma Precast

Terry Heine, Richards Bay Berry McGee, Grinaker Mining

j'i.&

Frcnt cover: Grinaker Transvaal's crusher plant in operation at the Ulco conttact neat Kim betley. Picture by the Gazette. GnnaAet Gazaue Match 19AJ

Mahlongwana viaduct takes shaPe by Paul Cilliers ln a valley where snakes, monkeys and consultants have been known to lurk, ever watchful for the slightest slip, the Mahlongwana viaduct is being constructed. The viaduct forms part of the Umkomaas contract which is only three to four kilometres away as the crow fliei. The structure as a whole is identical to the Umkomaas viaduct with the main diff erence being the length of the deck. Mah longwana has only fou r spans ol similar length to those at Umkomaas. An added feature of the bridge is the height ol the centre pier which is close to filty metres. (lt sounds as if I'm trying to sell a house. ) The substructure was started by the same team who constructed the substructure for the Umkomaas viaduct, namely Tom Bassett, Basie Schutte, Jorge Allen and Keith Meyer. Eric Zwane was the clerk. This team really got stuck in and by September when Jorge, Tom and Eric left there was only one pier and the abutments to complete. Caleb Sithole and myselt then joined what was left of theteam. lt

The centre pier is almost f itty metres high

a word in. The students on

the contract became very involved in.

urgently needed on the last slide. Unfortunately, even thoug h it was approved by the consultants and the South Alrican Bureau ot Standards, we are still awaiting results from the patent office belore

marketing the device. By the end ot last year there still remained an abutment beam and the precast yard to comPlete when Basie and Keith had to leave for Westville. However we managed to keep it in the lamily with Basie's brother Gawie iaking over as loreman. Work was continuing at a great pace when I had to leave at the end oJ January to get some design experience with a firm of consu ltants.

Men at Mahlongwana: Paul Cilliers (author ol this article), Bobby Pakirri and Gawie Schutte

Saction leadars Moses Mbutho and William Mgwase

didn't take long before Basie, trying to improve our language,

had started a system of fines, at 81.00 per swearword. The system was stopped atter a week when it was .tound that Basie owed a f ortune with Keith coming a close second - I hardly managed to get

Ginaket Cezetta March 19A3

pioneering a design lor a Grinaker 'sky hook' that was

J

Deel van die verg ruisingstoerusting in die groef by Ulco

Transvaal breek klippe by Ulco deur Johan van Rooyen

Ulco is sowat 100 km noord-wes Barkley Wes en Potmasburg. Per pad is dit sowat vyf uur van Elandsfontein maar as jy te perd gaan, en jy sterf nie van al die ontberings nie, sal dit jou agt dae neem. Watek wil se is dat Ulco ver-en-naby ndrens is. Ongelukkig kan ons nie kies waar ons wil werk nie en is dus baie bly om werk in Ulco te hC. Grinaker Transvaal is tans besig met 'n klip vergruisings kontrak op Ulco vir Concor-Grinaker Construction Company. Ons

van Kimberley, tussen

staan bekend as die'SubContractors'. Concor en

G

rinake r

Concrete Construction is die hool kontrakteur vir die oprigiing 4

van'n

nuwe fabriek vir Union

Lime.

Ons opdrag was om klip en sand vir beton te voorsien. Dit het baie kopkrap geneem om die regte en mees ekonomiese toerust ing bymekaar te bring. aangesien die opdrag vir slegs 155000 ton was. Na baie besprekings het ons besluit op n installasie wat die werk sou kon doen en begin met die oprigting. Weereens was daar die probleem van uitleg, aangesien die beskikbare area nie baie groot was nie. Die gebied was'n ou uitgewerkte groel met'n loodregte walaan die een kant van sowat twee-entwintig meter hoog. Die besluit was toe om die sekondCre breker onder op die vloer van die groef op te rig en die primere kakebreker bo op die hod wal. Die minus 100 mm klip van uit die kakebreker sou dan per voerband oor hierdie'afgrond', van tweeen-twintig meter, gestort word. Ons het baie getwyfel maar hoe

later hoe kwater. So gese

so

gedaan. Nou dat die breker werk lyk dit heel ind ru kwekkend. Die volgende probleem was die voorsiening van watgr om die klip

te was. Water word teen 'n hod

koste per pyplyn na ons gebring.

Met die beperkte area het ditdruk gegaan om houer damme te bou sodat ons water kon sirkuleer om weer gebruik te word. Ons moes

ook 'n besinkdam bou vir wanneer die slym van die sand geskei word. Wanneer die oprigtings koste vergelyk word met die hoeveel-

heid produk benodig, is dit heeltemaal bu ite verhouding. Dit bewys dat daar nie werklik so iets is soos 'n volle mobiele vergruiser n ie. Ook is daar te lan k tye tussen

vergruiser kontrakte wat

dan

veroorsaak dat 'n groot gedeelte van die implemente verlore qaan of vir ander doeleindes gebruik word. Tog was Uit vir ons moontlik om 'n baie redelike prys aan te bied.

Die rots wat ons myn

harde dolomiet

is n baie

ot soos

die

oumense se'olielantsklip'. ln die begin het ons gesukkel met die ontwikkeling van die groef maar

tans gaan dit heel goed. Swak materiaal in die boonste drie meter veroorsaak egter dat ons sukkel met te veel fyn stof. Ons maak van die volgende toerusting gebruik: 'n Cat 235 trekskop, twee Foden trokke, 'n 966 laaigraal, twee lR ECM 350 lugbore, een 1450 CFNI 'pac air' )

Grina*er Gazlne March 1ga3

kompressor, 'n 25 x 36 kakebreker, 48FC Gyra breker, 4895 Gyra breker, drie siwwe, 'n Fairbanks weegbrug, een lH 530 laaigraaf en vier 101 tiptrokke. Springstol word gratis deur Ulco myn voorsien en tans geb ru ik ons

Anlex en Sinex. Ons maak gebruik van 75mm de u rsnee boorgate en benodig 0,6k9

springstof per m3 rots. As gevolg van verweerde materiaal in die boonste drie meter van die groef kry ons omtrent tien tot vltien persent oorgroot rots.

Die tender en beplanning

is

gedoen deur Brian Herd in samewerking met Tom Knight, Marc Coetzee, Danie Gouws, Horst Schramm en ek. Die werkspan staan onder leiding van Brian Herd, Marc Coetzee en die uwe. Die terrein agent is jong Kingsley Williams en Danie Gouws is die man in beheer van die vergruiser. Tim Bainbridge maak die klippe kleiner in die groef terwyl Tony Estrella, Snowy du Randt en Joh n Oxley agter die belange van Grinaker Plant kyk. John Gomez het die beton werk ged oen.

Graag noem ek dat tydens die oprigting die manne hulle self baie goed van hul taak gekwyt het. Die werk het vlot verloop en

die terrein is 'n model

van

bekwaamheid. Ek vertrou dat dit vorentoe net sal goed gaan en dat

ons 'n baie suksesvolle kontrak gaan h6.

r:. Transvaal se brekers glimlag ten spyte van die stol en hitte. Tim Bainbridge, John Oxley, Tony Estrella, Danie Gouws, Kingsley Williams, Johan van Rooyen

Belangrike lede van die klipspan. Agter: Roberl Zulu, Jeanette Mogoje, Frans Seakwa, Samuel Lebedi, Boy, Enock Madubedube, Mxolisi Zingitwa, Shadrack Motsemme, Enias Seerane, Piet, Donald Makhado, Richard Ndubane, Fredie Hoyi, Joshua Ndubane, Madoda Siwa. Voor: Allios Mabunda, Wiltord Mlilo, Esau Khasodi, Daniel Moehakela, Petrus Mantsie, Johnson Baby, Johannes Zengele Gtinakot Gazetle March 19a3

by Ken McGregor Part of the new sleeper lactory at De Aar

The successful completion of the

Grinaker Precast 84,5 million De Aar sleeper factory in a sh o rt con -

struction period ol six months, resulted lrom teamwork by the various Grinaker d ivisions concerned. The project was completed on programme and within budget.'Site work started in the second week of July 1982 end was completed by the end of December 1982. The first line of sleepers was cast on January 10, 1983

De Aar is the sixth longline factory with which Grinaker Precast has been involved both locally and internationally. The new plant incorporates improvements which have resulted from Precast's involvement in projects in Australia, Braziland the USA. lt will increase Precast's local longline capacity by lifty per cent. The De Aartactory has been b uilt

Grinaker Projects and Techtonics management ieam at De Aar. Back: Tony Bowen, Bill Mills, Dudley Smart. Front: Roland McNamara, Gordon Darroll primarily to serve the SAR in the southern regions of the country and now gives Precast factories in

all four provinces. lt is ideally situated for distribution of prestressed concrete sleepers, being

at the contluence of {our ol the country's ten railway systems. The scope of the project involved a Io ng line sleeper

establishing

to produce part of Precast's share of the present SAR R80 million contract over four years. Owing to the complexity ol the task, as well as the time restraint, a multi-disciplinary, m u lti-d ivisional Grinaker team was put togethe r. The design team from Techtonics was headed by Tony Bowen with Melvin Wong handling the earthworks and trolley track design, Richard Shadbolt the civil design and Roland McNamara the Jactory

q ua

ntit ies.

The architectural layout d

was one by Bill Nlills of Grinaker Pro-

jects. The project management was handled by Dudley Smart also of Projects who had the unDesign Team. Etic Wright, Ray Webber, Ron Douglas. Absent: Cliff Dunbar 6

enviable task of com muting to De Aar on a regular basis. Keeping the show on the road, which ctinak|r

Gazole

Maoh

1ga3

involved more than normal site supervision and olten a seven day week, was Projects site manager Gordon Da rroll. Gordon is enjoying the Cape so much that he is subsequently staying on in De Aar to supervise construction of another lactory for Projects. the new abattoir for Vleissentraal.

The purpose-made systems equipment (PSE) was designed by Precast s Ray Webber and Eric 'Runner' Wright. The d raug hting tea m also included Ronnie Douglas and Cliff 'Karta' Dunbar. The manufacture of the PSE was handled by Precast's Trojan workshops. Here Gert Brils, Piet Bezuidenhout and Piet Foord were involved in the manufacturing stage. The erection of the PSE at De Aar was handled by Gert Brits, Piet Foord and acontingent lrom Trojan. N4uch midnight oil was burnt in order to meet the dead line. To ensure the optimum operating

etliciencies and the training of a new local labour force, Precast sent one of their most experie n ced longline management teams to De Aar. The team comprised Chris Visser as branch manager, Gert Brits as lactory manager and Johan Lau bscher as production manager. The latter two visited the longline plant in Western Australia last year to look at operating procedures in a more mechanized operation. The completion of Precast's sixth lactory in South Africa on time

and within budget was possible

made

by the co-ordinated

De Aar factory team. Back: Oom Maan Vermeulen, Gert Brits, Johan Laubscher, Ch's ylsser. Front: Giel di Toit, Basie Esterh uizen

Precast's Trojan Engineering special purpose equipment manulacturers team. Back: Piet Foord, Gert de Lange, Piet Bezuidenhout. Front: Jimmy Norti+, Flip Grobler

teamwork ot those Grinaker divisions involved. A big thanks to all con cerned.

Aerial view Gtinaker Gazexe Match 1983

Chrls ylsser, L Wildenboer (SA Transport Services), John Havinga, B. Grobler (SA Transport Ssrylces)

Grinel in'Pegasus' breakthrough {:

by Schalk Vorster

...!

l; i: ,r, .. .':

As the direct result of an order received from a large quasigovernment organization for a unique and unusual system the Grintron Commercial Services division of Grinel securitY has developed the Pegasus computer-based securitY communication and alarm sYstem. Pegasus is attracting conside rab le attention Jrom Potential customers who are currently reviewing their plant, site, b u ild ings and even VIP Protection measures in the face of the ever increasbd sec urity th reat to South

rican organizations. Pegasus consists of

Af

a security centre console with a Proqrammed comPUter and radio iystem wh ich monitors'and controls alarm rePorting outstations, and securitY or VIP veh icle

and patrolman hand-held

portable radios. In addition it provides a unique method of ensuring that Patrolmen ad he re to their Pre-determined Patrol routes as well as the ability to integrate a card-access system into the same cenlral securitY computer system. With Pegasus ali incoming alarm messages from fire, smoke, intrusion alarms or Panic buttons which are transmitted via the radio system irom b uild ings, mobiles or Portables are evaluated and disPlayed bY the security centre comPuter to the operato r.

Pre-prog ram med c ou nte r-measures to the threat are then displayed and the implementation ol the cou nter-measures bY the 8

Lore Holtzhausen, sales and marketing manager, and Jimmy Lishman' responsible for the Pegasus computer progtammes, at the console of the control centre

operator is monitored and recorded.

The most advanced feature of Pegasus

is that the two-way

radios used by the security forces are strictly controlled bY the

security centre comPuter. OnlY those persons required to have radio access to the channel are given access and then in a controlled manner. such as 'receive on ly' or 'receive and lransmit'. This leature ensures that no sudden f loods of unnecessarY messages are transmitted the moment a crisis is announced.

Pegasus radios which are fitted

with alarm buttons have their

identification numbers recorded and displayed bY the cornputer each time theY request or oblain channel access. TheY are also capable of being Placed in a 'torced transmit mode. ln this case, the two-way radio ol the person in trou ble, such as a Patrol guard or the driver of a hijacked veh icle, will automaticallY be 'keyed-up'and anY co nversation or noise in the vicinitY of the radio's microphone will be overheard by the control centre operator. From the details of the conversation or n oise he can then make a more accurate assessmerit ol the threat and select ind ivid ual

vehicle's fuel pumP which can be done lrom the control centre The patrol point rePorter is a disarmingly sim ple device. lt consists of a lully weather Proof

box which can be mounted on any wall, lence-post etc. The patrolman carrying his Pegasus hand-held radio inserts a key inlo the keyswitch on the box which

actuates a very low Power transmitter in the box. This in turn actuates his portable radio which lhen automatically reports both

the radio and Patrol

Point reporter's numbers to the control centre computer. The comPUter can then compare the rePorted

time against its internal g

Pro-

ramme and report any deviation

appropriate cou n te r-meas u res.

Biot helmet connected to the

These may entail the disablement of the hijacked vehicle bY means

headphone, microphone and

such as

d

iscon

necting the

Pagasus Klipspringer with single

tacilit.ies tor a gas mask Gnnaket Gazetto March 1943

f

rom the pre{etermined route.

The development of Pegasus was a true team effort by the Grintron Com mercial Services stalf. Many simultaneous problems had to be solved in order to ach ieve the very

tig ht delivery schedules. The computer programmes cou ld not be tested while the Pegasus hardware was u nder development so a simulator programme had to be devised that simulated the actual hardware. This simulator was so successful that it is now being

oftered as part ol a Pegasus system and is used as an ongoing training aid for the users'

operalors. Jimmy Lishman is the

software'wunderkind' who achieved this feat.

ln trying to design a hand-held portable radio which not only contained a microprocessor but which was also f ully submersible, could be used as a trucheon in an emergency, and could be used for nine hours on a single battery charge, lady luck and a superb bit of teamwork made use ol the

housing

ot the

Secom

New Allied Building Society oftices in Queenstown

Ioreman tor the R300000

by Neil Backlund

mine

rescue radio (an existing Grinel product), a radio being marketed by Grintron Agencies and the ingenuity of Francois Spies, Fran k lvlalherbe, Dick Mudde, lvlanie Bernard and Brian Megginson. Pegasus is an exciting new product created to satisfy very real customer needs typical to South Africa. All of us associated with this project are very confident that we have a real winner.

The Oueenstown Allied Building Society was the first contract awarded to our newly established building division in the Eastern Cape.

The R620000 contract had

a

seven month contract period and

a d ou ble storey building in the centre of Queenstown. The s ite was

comprised

situated belween two existing buildings with l\4ain Street as the front border and t\4idblock Road at the rear. On th is obviously con-

gested site,600m3 of concrete had to be poured, 2900m, of lormwork erected and 154 OOO bricks laid. Approximately fifty per cent of the contract was subcontracted to fourteen specialist irms f rom as far af ield as Durban. As one can imagine, this contract was lar f rom a site agent's dream f

with fourteen subbies and no room for bricks, mixers, stores and the like.

Site personnel included Mark Lucey as general foreman,

Nick MacKenzie ol Grinel security with the Pegasus Klipspringer radio and lapel speaker microphone Atinahet cazqtta Mar.h 19a3

Dermot O'Sullivan (on loan from civil section) as concrete foreman and Eric Coleman as junior foreman. Contract ma nager was Ted Healy and lwassiteagent. lncidently Eric Coleman was also

alteration contract to the nearby Woolwo rth s which was our second b uild ing contracl.

We experienced two

se rio us

delays on the job. which gave rise to an extension of time claim. Since occupation was req uired by the Christmas shutdown, part of this delay was made up with a p ro9 ramme acceleration. The

first delay was caused by

a

municipal sewer which had to be laid smack through the cenlre of the site after we had already commenced base excavations. The second delay was discovering that an existing 1930's b u jlding actually encroached on our site. (They were obviously lacking in the Mel Watson type of survey expertise in those bygone days.

)

A feature of this contract was the

exceptionally high quality ol finishes required, as befits a buil-

ding ol this nature. As an indication, the area cost was approximately sixty per ce nt more than that encountered in normal bu ild ings.

We have now succeeded

winning building contracts

in

in both East London and Bisho and

hopefully will continue g rowing and expanding in this most encouraging manner.

9

by Tony Claassen

ldyttic site office setting. Beach to the left, golf course to the right. Work ls a/mosf impossible.

The sea end ol live major contracts The Simuma contract is at the sea end ot five major contracts lor the construction ol railway f ormation and concrete structures for a new

railway line lrom the existing South Coast main line to the new

Natal Portland Cement tactory

Tony Claassen, Ndoda Nondaba, Mike du Plessis, James Duncan, Mathew Motsilili

situated sixteen

k

ilo

m

et res

in lan d.

The line initially runs along the northern boundary of the Co u ntry Club's golf course (which explains why the handicaps on site have improved appreciably) and then goes up to the Umzimkulu river valley and

)v

Earthworks proceed through steep, wooded valleys 10

Koos Minney earthworks f oreman Grinakot Gaz6 6 March 19a3

thence up the Umzimkulwana valley to the factory. The Simuma contract worth R3,6 million covers the lirst 3,7 km ot this line and is d ue f or com pletion at the end of May 1983. ln order to take off a spurtrom the

South Coast line, the latter had first to be deviated over a length ol 0.6 km. This has been completed. The spur then crosses the main South Coast road and to achieve this the latter had also to

be re-aligned for 0,9 km over

a&t&r7.,-

a

new road-over-railbridge. The re-

alignment of the main road then affected a municipal road which has also been re-routed.

The earthworks comprises 280 000m3 of cut to

fill, through

a

of steep, densely wooded valleys. The c lient is ve ry conscio us ol the ellect this work is having on the

Heavy tralfic on the old main road. The new road is on the right

succession

environment, heightened no doubt by the local outcry when the project was first disclosed. Subsequently, a large amount ol money is being spent on re-estabblish

ing indigenous and

other

vegetation on the high and steep cut and fill slopes. The staff on site consists of me as site agent, Hylton Grey as earthworks sub-agent, Mike du Plessis

and Koos l\4inney looking after

the earthworks and the man behind the theodolite. with crampons on his boots, Dave Brereton-Stiles. The con c rete side consists oi Brian Lange and Steve Lucken constructing the bridge and culverts, with Joe Ricciardi doing the pipework,

Dave Stl/es, Hylton Grey, Joe Ricciardi, Tony Claassen

.-l.:',

: i-

guardrailing and chutes. Bill Roussouw did an excellent job with the kerbs and channelling.

Looking alter the clerical side is Reg l\4khombe. The site oflices are magnilicently situated, overlooking the sea and one minute's walk f rom the beach and the shad. Commonly sighted from the olfice window are ships, porpoises and seabirds diving for fish and occasionally whales are

spotted moving up the coast. A pleasant d iversion from signing invoices.

At the contract's completion, all concerned are looking Jorward to the party on the first train up the lin e. Ctin.kar Gaz60B Mdt.h 19a3

Taking a camera break .

11

Grinaker Zululand has been com-

missioned to do the civil and building work lor the new R10 million Suncrush bottling plant in Richards Bay. Grinaker are main contractors with a contract share amounting to aPProximately Ro m illion. Site levelling sta rted in September last year and the schedule calls for completion in October 1983. Concrete req u iremen't is f or 6 500m3 which includes 26000m, of paving. Five hundred lonnes of reinlorcing and structural steel will be used. Grinaker will have a total oI 110

't--\:

Concrete work on site

people on sile. Contracts manager is Foberto Buson and

site agent ls Dave Price. A strong

team includes Ray Caldwell as general loreman and TonY da

Silva as concrete

lo re ma n.

Johannes Peterson and Kemie

Kemie are chargehands and Dave

Daniels does survey. Tech n ikon

student Bruce Adlem runs the impressive batching plant and does costjng. "We've had the normal Richards Bay water problem," says.Dave

Price, "otherwise we're going well. lt's a tight schedule but with a bit ol overtime we'll make it."

Strategically situated batch plant near the railway line

. ,.,.

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{,,

'{. ,..'

Suncrush team. Back: Tony da Silva, Bay Caldwell, Patrick Mthethwe, Dave Price, Anthony Hlongwa, Nabbot Sithole, Phanbantu Mncube, Peter Nyawo, Berry McGee, Dave Daniels. Front: Kehie Kemie. Johannes Peterson, Bruce Adlem, Gilbett Mnguni, Abednego Dube 12

nteresting project for TW Beckett &

r

!ti;

'!:

J,

t

4.,.

Part of the construction work as seen from the crcne

by Otto Steenkamp

Transvaal's most expe

rien ced foremen in the persons of Dennis Cowell and Damiao De Souza. It they cannot beat.the job nobody can. As site agent lam here to

provide Dennis and Souza with what they need to do the job.

The project

is split into

two

phases. Phase one, presdntly

under construction, consists of a general pu rpose warehouse with an area of 2 200m2 covered with a reinforced concrete slab. We also have to construct 5000m, of concrete paving. The ground

beams and columns are

Grinaker Co nstruction Transvaal has negotiated a very interesting job in lsando with TW Beckett, the tea and coffee people. This implies that all visitors get served Kolfiehuis and Five Roses.

During the negotiation stage, contracts manager Brian Herd

had a to ug h time clinch ing the job

twice. (lt was shelved once.) On site we have two of Grinaker Gtindket Gazette Mat.h 19A3

pported on eighty-two augered piles of an average depth of 13m. Twenty-live columns 7m high and seven concrete walls 8m high carry the concrete slab. The slab su

During phase one, one half of the slab will be covered with an eight

metre high steel frame and IBR colomet cladding. This work, as well as the sprinkler installation, will be done by a nominated subcontractor. During phase two a stackerack structure, the Iirst in this country, will be mounted on the other hall of the reinforced concrete slab. The stackerack is an 18m high

steel dome

wh

ich can

store

thousands of pallets as if in pigeon holes. Three computer-

ized cranes controlled by a sing le operator at a computer terminal

will handle all the ingoing and outgoing pallets.

of both flat slab and trough slab construction. For consists

suppo rt work we use the k wikstrip

method. A section ol the warehouse will be used as an olfice block and here we will do the bu ilding work. 13

Bridges across the Umztmkulwana Three bridges and

thirteen culverts by Rowell Haigh

The Shepstone Bridges contlact involves the construction of

thirteen concrete culverts and

three bridges along the proposed new rail link between the low level bridge at Batstones Drift on the

Umzimkulwana River and the proposed cement clinker lactory at Oribi Gorge. The client is Anglo Alpha Cement with the main consultants being Robertson and Hitchins who have been ably assisted by Hawkins, Hawkins and Osborne with the design of the three bridges.

The value

of the contract is

approximately R3,1 million with an anticipated completion date of .1983. early June The culverts vary in size from 2mx2m lo 5mx5m and in length from 18m to 45m. Ten of the thirteen culverts have been completed with an approximate value of R0,6 million. The three bridges where the railway line crosses the meandering Umzimkulwana River each have

four 30m spans consisting of th ree 2m deep precast beams per

ol the bridges are curved and have a grade ot 1:60. The precast beams are being cast-in-situ supported on shorespan. Two

loading and where the

span

crosses the existing river, the river has been dammed and channelled through a pipe culvert beneath the dam. The top of the dam wall which acts as a platlorm for the shoreloading has been

capped with blinding to prevent scour during times of sporadic flooding, a characteristic ol the Umzimkulwana River. Two such floods have already been experienced with no ill effects. The piling for the three bridges

was carried out by SA

Piled

Foundations over a period ol six months under the watchlul eye of Artur Condi as their site agent. Bob Wilson, Steve Lucken, Willie Swart, Jose Pires and their teams have all made a valuable contribution towards keeping the culverts ahead of programme and a mere few days ahead of 'Bulldog' Joe Danks and his earthworks crew. Willie Swart has stayed on to do the substructures and Jos6 Pires to do the superstructures of the three bridges. At present the b ridges are eighty-five percent, sixty percent and lorty percent complete respectively. Reg Reis joined us in September lrom Umhlatuzana to assist with the prestressing of the beams. The remainder of the team is

Deryck White as contracts

manager, and I am site agent, well assisted by Chris Laqua as engi-

neering technician and Phillip Mngangwa as site clerk. "

e,intr., e"dt

March lgas

Bus depot for Klerksdorp

lnside the workshop block

by Vincent Falck

The office building

Grinaker Projects have contracts

for three bus depots lor United Transport Holdings. The tirst Gnnaker Gaz6 6 Mdt.h 19a3

contract at Witbank has already been handed over to the client and work is on programme for completion at Klerksdorp and Vaal Transport Projects by the

end ot March this year. The Klerksd orp contract exceeding R2 million, is the biggest of the three. lt is designed to service t5

of 150 buses, and serves as the headquarters for the Western Transvaal ope ration. A major aspect of the project is the '1 1300m2 of concrete roads and 6200m2 of crusher-run parking a fleet

a

rea.

The proposal team was headed by Kevin Oliff. Design and construction was ha nd led by Nralcolm Burnett (a rch itectu re), Armund du Plessis (Witbank site manager), Rob Horstield (roads and earthworks) and Alan Bell (electrical). John Nilc Ken na was site manager and I was contracts manager.

The largest building is the 86m long workshop which would be the envy of every plant manager. It is comprehensively eq u ipped for the repair and maintenance of the fleet and can accommodate twenty un its. The client's technical exec utive, Mr George Swindlehurst, th roug h

his extensive experience,

has

made a significantcontribution to

the success of these projects. We

hope that the experience

and

expertise gained by our own team will be productively employed on

contracts ot a similar nature in futLrre-

It has been suggested that the relationship between an advertising man and his principal resembles the relatio nsh ip between a knile and a throat. lf this is so. the appointment of the Gazette to

handle Grinaker corporate and construction advertising should provide a steady llow of adrenalin. Perhaps some of this excitement will reveal itself in the layout ol the advertisements. Moving lurther into the lield ol communication the Gazette has also become the ollicial avenue lor press releases. The significance of this is that it provides site agents and others with the means

tor

marketing the news component ot their contracts. ln a news-hungry world the p roject

story becomes a prof it item. lt can be senl out through the media to inform the public and lo enhance

group image. N4any a good story has died in the

ud on site. Not because the site agent did not recognize its intrinm

sic value but because he didn't really know what to do with it. Now the solution is simple. There is a hot line to the Gazette at (01 1 ) 58-8915.

To initiate the realization ol a valuable asset, and pe rha ps experience a measure of glory, merely lift the telephone. The

An aerial view of the bus depot

ai

&t

br

same applies if you think you have a con struction picture which could be used in an advertisement. We cannot guarantee in advance that any picture will be suitable or that any given project story will make headlines. But we undertake to tollow up every lead and investigate its potential or lace the knife. M.S.

{

Design and construction team. Back: Malcolm Burnett, Atmund du P/essis, Rob Horstield, Vincent Falck. Front: Alan Bell, John Mc Kenna 16

Gnnakot Gazele March 19a3

Amalgamated Rei nforci ng moves to Richards Bay

Amalgamated Reinlorcing's old yard at Empangeni

Amalgamated Reinforcing is to move its well established Zululand operation f rom Empangeni to Richards Bay. The new premises will be near Grinaker Zululand's offices in Alton. the industrial heart of Richards Bay. "Our Empangeni yard has done very well over the pastfewyears,"

says manager Peter McKenzie. "Major contracts have included Richigata, the Felixton sugar mill and now the paper mill at N4ondi. But the point is simply that we have outg rown the existing prem ises." The new Richards Bay premises will include a modern yard with

greater output and up-to-date olfice facilities on a 1,3ha site. lnitially there will be one gantry crane with provision for the installation of a second one at a later stage. The yard will handle cutting, bending, welded mesh fabric and the fixing of all types of steel reinforcement. lt will also continue to run a structural design service which has proved to be a great success. The old yard al Empangeni will continue to be used for the present. Occupation of the new premises should take place in April/t\^ay th is year. "Grinaker Zululand is the contractor for the construction of the new establishment," says Peter. "We look forward to bejng near the harbour area, and Mondi, and gdnerally in the centre of things. We will also be near Grinaker Zululand to keep an eye on them and to maintain the sister-com-

pany relationship

wh

ich

has

served us well in the past."

G ri

nake r

Precast moves int masonry Grinaker Precast (Transvaal) has commenced commission-

ing of a new R3 million concrete mason ry plant near Half way House. The team involved in the inlroduction of Precast's high q uality masonry products are delighted that in itial problems with the re-zoning of the site and delays in lhe factory construction are now behind them, and they can concentrate on the development ot the business. The plant ilself

Members ot Amalgamated Reinforcing staff at Empangeni. gack: Richard Ward, Natalie van Rooyen, Louis Maree, peter McKenzie, Fiona Skinner. Front: Timothy Nkosi, Peter Korck, Bichard yardley Gtinaket Cazetle Match 1983

is

probably the most up to date anywhere, and incorporates such features as covered aggregate bins, automated curing systems and computerized process controls.

17

Shepstone Rail on schedule by Peter Sproull

Gtinaker earthmoving equipment in action Riaan Smith who has managed admirably lo keeP ahead of Joe's h ung ry team.

One hold-up on the iob

The first of the three contracts at Port Shepstone is now nearing completion and although the

was

caused by a slip in a rock-cutting halfway along the contract. This

necessilated rock anchors lo be

nto

m squad'

The earlhworks on the second contract is approximatelY two thirds complete with onlY one major cutting so far untouched.

Otherwise the earthworks

rs

heading toward s the comPletion date at the end of June 1983.

This has been largelY due to the efforts of Joe Danks and his a

atio n.

Th is cutting according to tenderer and contracts manager Deryck White is the worst oI the lot. That is still to be established.

earthworks quantitY on this contract has increased from 370000m3 to over 500000m3 we are still on programme to finish the contract before the completion date of mid-APril. 'ph

installed which we did on a costplus basis, it gave us valuable experience in this specialized oper-

consisting

mainly of three dozers, a D9, D7 and D6, a 966D loader and live Volvo 5350 trucks. OI the earthworks q ua ntitY, 150 000m3 was rock requiring blasting. The blaster on site is

One of the steep-slded krantzes

Roadmaking in rough counttY 18

Newly completed bridge

Stabilizing a steep siope Gnnaket Gazetle March 1933

More than

a hundred and lilty

years after stephenson's Rocket the Grinaker Gazette was threat-

ened with another rocket

il

it

failed to cover the sto ry of the lirst train ride over the new bridges at

George Goch and Vickers Road.

These

four rail bridges were

inc re me n ta lly launched by Grinaker Transvaal and completed late last year. They form a vital part ot the new rail system which will serve the container depot at Johannesburg's in land port, Kazerne. On 29 November 1982 the ceremonial train provided for the occasion by South African Transport Services arrived at George Goch station. lt was hauled by a magnilicent steam locomotive called Tamaryn. She was a perIectly restored class 15F engine built by North British in Glasgow and laken into main line service by South African Railways in 1938. Her good looks belied a fighting weight of 182 tonnes and considerable brute torce in the lorm of a working pressure of 42 340 pounds per square inch or

Ceremonial steam locomotive at George Goch. On the platf orm are Piet Wagenaar, lan Johnston, a man lrom SA fS and Peter Brown. The engine driver looks remarkably like Brian Oliver Joh

nston, Ken Nutler,

Piet

Wagenaar and Peter Brown. Tamaryn gave the trad itional

hoot, hiss ol steam and quick palpitation as her driving wheels

spun on the tracks. Then she

pulled the lirst-ever train on to the George Goch bridge.

Jusl then a vicious

From the station platform a large

Highveld thunderstorm broke. lt was, as a Transport Services man said, "as if someone had pulled the plug out of the big bath in the sky". Almost instantly, everyone was drenched.

personnel and guests includ ing Grinaker personalities lan

Out ot h u man ita rian considerations Tamaryn's driver cut the journey short and brought the trainload of soggy VlPs back to

291 934kPa.

group ol tun-riders clambered into open goods trucks. Among them were Transport Services

George Goch station. With one great athletic leap lan Johnston led the exodus from the trucks to the platlorm. The gesture cost

him an injured leg but he

had

started the rush from the train to the nearby Grinaker site office. There the group found shelter under an awning erected for the occasion, a warm braai and a lethal su pply of restoratives. Like the journey ol the original Rocket, the action was over quickly. Still, there had been time to see the bridges and to experience the ercitement of being the lirst passengers to c ross the m. As one of the guests remarked, "it was quick, sudden and memorable".

I

I

Firsl passenger's view from George Goch rail bridge Gnnaket cazaxe March 1983

Vicke

rs Road bridges '19

a

Cracking pace at Bay Stone

',..':.

Massive crushing equipment

-

producing high volumes The Bay Stone Sales quarries at Empangeni have been working at a cracking pace. November last year saw a record cash turnover from the lwo quarries and January 1983 established a new rock volume record lor the dolerite quarry. The granite quarry is expanding stead ily and the transpo rt d ivision has grown appreciably to have a total of twelve heavy vehicles, ten Mercedes and two Nissans. Toeks Botha, quarrying expert and managing director ot Bay Stone Sales for many years is moving to Johannesburg where he will widen his scope as a director ol the newly formed Grinaker Equipment Company. He remains a director oI Bay Stone Sales. Taking over the quarries as general manager will

be Ted Todd who is also

a

director of Bay Stone Sales. The q uarries have massive

crushing equipment,

load ers,

dump trucks, compressors and track rigs. They employ approxi-

Not a Chinese houseboat but part ol the equipment in the dolerite quarry i I I I

20

mately two hundred people, most of whom are welltrained regulars. There is a very small percentage of unskilled labour.

"Our local economy down here \

anna*er ea2e

e

March 1ga3

'.t:;

r..

Steep c/lfls in the dolerite quarry seems to be about a year behind says

the rest of the country,"

Toeks, "that is why we are still going great guns, we haven'l felt the downtu rn yet."

Toeks Botha his - to broaden scope as a directot ot Grinaker Equipment Company

Ted Todd has taken over

as

genercl manager of the Bay Stone q

uarr ies

Atinaker Gazdue Match 19A3

Richards Bay Dolerite Quarry Team. Back: Roland Truter (mechanic), Pieter Barnatd (charge hand mechanic), Oom Bessie Bester (crushing plant toreman), Johnny Becker (mobile plant loreman), Kobus van der Linde (crusher operator), Blackie Swart (blaster). Front: Thomas Mlondo (operator foreman), Jerry Ngema (dispatch clerk). The team lrom the granite quarry will appear in a future Gazette 21

New Natal contract in Pietermaritzburg Grinaker Natal has landed a R5,7

million contract in Pietermarilz-

burg. The project entalls a canalization of the Umsinduzi River, 100m wide over 2,7km. There will be 1 100000m3 of cut from the canal to go on to the flood plain to form a platlorm above the hundred year tlood level. Also called tor are 3.5km of road, 2,5km of rail and skm of stormwaler d rainage.

Doug Botha will be contracts manager/site agent, Joe Lancaster and Desinia Dyantyi will look atter ea rth wo rks, John Higham will hand le quantities and survey will be done by Dave Monk and Ettore D'Augostino. Gero Knoop is the concrete man learner f oreman. Engineering student on the contract is Nick Hobbs and site clerk will be Titus Zondi

with Alan du Plooy as

Miss Pamela Reid, mayor of Pietermaritzburg and Bean Bornheimer, managing directot of Grinaker Construction (Natal), sign the Camps Drift contract

Looking back -r:.

.

Napier Road Bridge near the Johannesburg Country Club in Auckland Park completed in 1955. Engineer was John Ellis and foreman was Charlie Reynolds. The contract price was approximately 50000 pounds sler/lng.

Gnnak6t Ga2otte March 19a3

Our insurance consultant speaks by g uest author Allan Burton

covering defective design and the cost of replacing delective workmanship of materials on the

Lethabo Chimney. As far as we could establish this was the lirst policy ot its kind in the world. We were able to persuade insurers that the descriptions of contracts as given to them at the time of award and as subsequently described in articles in the G rinaker Gazette in fact related to the same contracts. (We are making progress - Ed ) On 1 July 1982 mostoftheannual policies ol the group were moved

It may not be right lor an outsider to contribute to a house magazine

but then my association with the Grinaker group has been such that I perhaps fall into a category somewhere between an outside r and an employee. I thought that you might be interested in a few impressions I have gained ol the g

rou p.

The most noteworthy aspects are

the incredible ability ol management to plan ahead sulliciently well to be always correctly structured at any given time to 'take advantage of the opportunities which arise in your areas ot operation, and the tremendous rapport between

management and staff th roug h out the group. These attributes, believe, are responsible for the tremendous loyalty and commitment to the group which I have lound to exist in everybody lhave met. Against this background it is not s u rp risin g th at those members of our stafl who are involved with your insurances feel that same commitment. 1982 was an interesting year. Some ot the highlights, in no particu lar order were: I

We held very successful insurance seminars in East

London and for Grinaker Engineering Management and Grinaker Projects in the Transvaal. We would be delighted to hold additional seminars for any other companies in the group.

After visting Europe, the UK and America (which lenjoyed), we were able to place a single policy Grinaker Gazettd Match 1983

of your group and the diversity ot its operations we place the highest value on the extremely

good

your insurance is number one priority for us. You should therelore feel free to call on us for advice or assistance or even just for a chat whenever you feel it necessary.

Models used for piling

Mutual and Federal

lnsu rance Company. The change was made

R250 000.

At the end of 1982 we ceased to

trade

as David Katzen (Pty)

Limited and now operate under the name ol PFV Construction (Pty) Limited. The civilengineers we employed late in 1981 were successfully converted into insurance brokers. During 1982 another civil engineer and a B.Sc. (Bldg) joined us and we hope to add two more civil engineers to

our staff in 1983. The group personal insu rance scheme available to all Grinaker employees proved its worth by enabling members to claim back most ol their premiums. Despite the lact that rates were increased during the year they still remain very competitive in view of the wide cover given and the ever increasing motor rates reg u la rly publicized in the press. Grinaker Nrining lost a coal d ump as a result of spontaneous combustion. A site store was lost in a fire. A number oI our Grinaker friends have retired and others will be retiring during 1983. lwould like to take this opportunity ot wishing them hea lth and happiness. Finally, in view ol the complexity

unication we have

can assure you that

from American lnternationa l, Federated and Aegis to the

in a splrit of goodwill. Mulual and Federal picked up a plant claim ol R125 000 within the first two weeks when a scraper collided with a grader. During the year there were more than 200 motor accidents causinq damage amounting to some

comm

with all of you. Without it we could not do ou r job. lnsu rance may not be the first of your priorities but I

'by

Tony Bowen A new piling machine is currently under development by SA Piled Foundations and Tech ton ics.

Many would regard the use of models as something of an

nach ron ism, but a model bu jlt by Techtonics has proved itsell to be

a

indispensible to the design pro-

cess, pinpointing potential problems ol erection, clashes of components etc. The piling machine will consist of removable attachments to the basic RB30 crane

unit, which is already a familiar feature on SA Piled Foundations' sites. The new rig willcompliment our presenl capabilities for bulb pile installation.

Wouter de Villiers and Tony Bowen with the model ot the new piling machine -

Grinaker's Brak pan training centre has been involved lor the first time this year in running courses for the practical training of university students. Two courses were run conc u rrently: one for Grinaker bursars on ly and the other for Wits students hold ing bursaries lrom other companies. The idea f or the latter scheme was

born when Wits University approached the Civil Eng ineering lndustry Training Board (CEITB)

and asked that a course be devised for the training of students who had just completed first year. The course should give these students some experience

of the construction industry and help them to see the relevance of their studies. The u n ive rs ity hoped this might curb the high drop-out rate among first years. Rob Campbell, director in charge of personnel training at Brakpan, is on the CEITB vacation students' proiect committee and has been involved in this project

from the outset. The

course, which is compulsory, takes place over a six-week period during the Chribtmas holiday. Th ree companies are pa rtic ipating: Grinaker, l\rurray and Roberts and CMGM. The students learn

conc reting at Grinaker's Brakpan training centre and go to Nlurray and Roberts for roads and earth-

works and to CMGM for shuttering and reinforcing. During the time they are at Brakpan site visits are arranged. This year the students visited the Portland Cement lnstitute and G rinaker Precast factory as well as the Ellis Park and T.W. Beckett sites. This course is a pilot scheme in South Atrica and it is hoped that it will be extended to other centres in the futu re. The course lor Grinaker bursars was also run for the f irst time th is year. The object ol this course is to familiarize the students with Grinaker methods and make them feel a part of the com pany at the same time as providing practical training in construction. The training modules run at Brakpan include shuttering, reinforcing, concrete, scaffo ld in g and support work, and are the CEITB approved courses used for the training of construction workers grades one and two. The instructors are Abraham Kamteni and Nehemiah Vinqi and Ron Williams is senior training officer. The course also includes two weeks in one of Grinaker Plant's workshops. This year's group included first

Manual work makes a change trom university lectures 24

and second year students lrom Cape Town, Wits, Natal and Stellenbosch. ln future years the construction course will be for first years only, while second years will do a surveying and commercial course and third years a design course. Rob Campbell stresses lhe importance of the linancial side of con-

tracting. "During the

train ing

period," he says, "lhe student will at all times be made aware of the money asPect and be able to relate production to profit and loss. He must realize that it is a money game and that we can only remain in business through good contracting and healthy prolits."

The students have reacted very positively to the courses. "To get out and do a bit ol manual work is

good," says S.M.

Goldstein's

bursar Derick Mclntyre. "l have worked on sites before but didn't know what the work really entails - now we are less critical ol the pace of work of construction workers. And we have to learn to get on with people, treat them as

humans." Grinaker bursar

Gerhard van Schalkwyk adds, "l am very impressed with the way we are being looked atter. The course really gives us an insight into the practical aspects of construction. "

Reinlorcing is one aspect of the course for Grinaker bursars Gtinakor Gazette March 1983

\ l

Wts srudents leatn about concreting at Brakpan. Back: Craig Barnett, Alfonso de Abreu. Middle: Nehemiah Vinqi (instructor), Derick Mclntyre, Martin Slon, Heinrich Kaumbi, Alistair James, Ron Williams (senior training oflicer). Front: Freddy Manyathi, David Paola

...2

9',.

Grinaker bursars at Brakpan training centrc. Back: Rob Campbell (director in charge), Gerhard van

Schalkwyk, Robert Geddes, Willem Smith, Bruce Lupton-Smith, Ron Williams (senior training otticer). Front: Gordon Chrystal, Clive Evans, Abraham Kamteni (instructor), Graeme Prev)st, Harald van Lennep Gtinaket Gazatta March 1943

What the drivers said

Hard hat saves a life

The following are taken trom a list

seen on the notice board at George Goch on 30 November 1980 and credited to Abraham Witten. They are actual stale-

the irretutable evidence

ments tound on insurance torms where car drivers attempted to summarize details ol an accident in the fewest possible words. The

Alson Buthelezi holds the hat which saved him

Hard hat and the 7kg grinder which fell lrom lifteen metres

On 18 October 1982 at 1th30 ile a Grinaker/Murral &

and

sh ou lde r.

wh

Roberts employee, Alson Buthelezi, was cleaning a balustrade wall in the potroom at Richigata

an employee of the cladding contractor knocked an angle

grinder from a beam on the roof. The angle grinder slid diagonally along a rool truss then fell approximately fifteen metres before hitting Alson on the head Group statislica Financial Year end ing J une 1977 1978 '1979 .1980

1981

1982

To date (November 1982) Note: Disabling lrequency tate

26

The mass of the ang le grinder was approximately seven kilograms. lt was fitted with a cutting disc. Alson's hard hat was almost split in two by the impact. He then walked three hundred metres to report his accident. He sullered no cuts or abrasions but was booked off work for two days with a still neck.

Disabling lnjury Freq uency Rate 22,3 12,4 11,9 13, 1 1'l ,7

8,2 8,9

lot the construction industty

Plant Accident Freq

uency Rate 3,02 1,62 0,59

0,73 ,08 1,78 1

is

Safety news Rowan Burns who took over from Jimmy Quail as Transvaal safety oflicer, begins his January newsletter with the news that Grinaker

Plant (lnland) unlortunately spoilt their accident-free record when a mechanic assistant at

.1,53

as a whole

instances ot faulty writing serve to confirm that even incompetenl writing may be highly entertaining: The other car collided with,mine without giving warning ol its intention. Ithought my window was down, but I lound out it was up when I put my head through it. I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way. The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times belore lhit him. ln an attempt to kill a fly, ldrove into a telephone pole. I had been driving lor lorty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident. To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck the pedestrian. Itold the police that lwas not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull. The pedestrian had no idea which direction to run, so I ran over him. I was th rown f rom my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.

14,7

Boland Collieries dropped a belly plate from a bulldozer and badly lacerated his f inger. This man was off work for a week and Bowan suggests that stricter follow-up procedures might have enabled Ctinaket

Gazatte

March 1ss3

h

im to resu me light

d

uties sooner.

Regrettably the mechanical d ivi-

sion, which has

become

extremely safety conscious, also

sulfered an accident when an employee was struck by a lalling object and hospitalized lor a week.

Rowan describes two accidents involving vehicles which resu lted in expensive damage. The first of these was caused by negligence. Rowan says, "There is simply no

excuse when a person allows the vehicle he is driving to.crash into the rear ol a stationary vehicle."

-The second accident involved a Foden truck and a 631 scraper. "Parking a Foden lruck behind a 631 scraper is only looking lor trou ble, " says Rowan. This accident resulted in damage amounting to R3000. Rowan concludes his letter with the advice to us all to belt up and drive defensively.

by Doug 'the flash' Gordon

Top safety award

Group chairman Ola Grinaker receives the Building lndustries Federation ot South Alrica national satety trophy tor allied trades from Mr L. Glaser in Sea Point in October 1982. The award was accepted on behalf of the Grinaker Plant (Coastal) workshops in New Germany

Over the years Grinaker Computing Services has concentrated on system desig n, development and programming at group level. The resources are now available to devote g reater attention to satisfying specilic need s of ind ivi-

duals and companies. lt was therelore decided to lorm a

special projects division to cater specilically lor ind ivid ual req uirements which do not tie in with those ol other companies. The division, which is headed by

me, completed three projects in operation. These were product costing for Grinel, sub-contractors' payment certilicates for Grinaker Conc rete Construction and a planl rates

the lirst month ot

communication and print program

lor Grinaker Plant,

Natal. Additional programs are already in the pipeline. The last satety meeting to be chaited by Ola Grinaker took place at Braamlontein in November 1982. Present were Myer Wolson, Claud Bagshaw, Jimmy Quail, Schalk Vorster, group chairman Ola Grinaker, Rowan Burns, Paul Smith and Jim Datson cnnakot Gazd e March 1983

lf any specialized systems or pro-

grams are required, please

contact me at the Elandsfontein olfices or later in the year at the new Doornfontein olfice block 27

contract. "One of those was lhe coal bin at Coalbrook with Roy Jutzen," he says, "it was the toughest cookie I ever worked on but we won the Chairman's Shield

Dennis Cowell - foreman

lor salety. " He was concrete foreman on the

rementally launched George Goch bridges and is currenlly on the TW Beckett contract. Many of his escapades are legend, tor example when he spray painted a taulty concrete mixer with the rising sun and the name 'Sunshine Motors'. "Then I sent it back to Grinaker Plant at Elandslontein," he says, "and boy, did I get Tom Knight on my back about that." inc

Dennis married his wife

Pam

twenty-lour years ago. They have two daughters and a son who is in the army. "l used to play every sport you can think ot," he says, "and I still swim at home. lf my bones get too weak to carry me I might retire early or look around for a soft job like yours. But I'm Dennis Cowell and his wife Pam on the day Dennis received histwentytive year service award

Dennis Cowell belongs to the grand old school ot Grinaker

loremen. "l was born

in

Johannesburg in 1935," he says, "in facl I caused the Great Depression." He went to Observatory High School and served his time as a

carpenter/joiner with the Johannesburg municipality.' He

joined the Grinaker group

in

Zambia in 1955 and worked with

Tom Lundy and Johnny Beukes under Mike Bush. "Then I broke service lor lwo months," he says, "and joined ihe group again at Natalspruit near Alberton where John Ellis was contracts manager. That's why l've actually worked at Grinakers lor longer than the book says." He had moved from carpentry into concrete and worked on the lirst concrete sleepers made tor South Alrican Railways at Benoni. This led to the establishment ol a sleeper lactory at Brakpan and the emergence ot Grinaker Precast. "l was at Precast with Jock Ritchie lor ten years. But the sleeper factory was like a sausage

machine. I wanted the excitement 28

ol construction again - and lgot it.

"l went to the Standard Bank contract with Tom Lundy agarn and George Nobrega. Derek Cliff was concrele contracts manager. It was a fantastic job with prestressed cantilevers and a ring crane which was the only one ol its kind in the world. ''One day I noticed that a main load bearing beam had slipped out of position. A major disaster was imminent. I pushed past a secretary into a heavy bosses meeting and gave the alarm. Workers came swarming oll the structure like ants but

we managed to secure the beam in time. lt could have brought the

whole lot crashing down into a built-up area. I got a personal letter from Ola Grinaker for that

and two riggers and

mysell received gold watches. Look, I'm still wearing mine." He bu jlt twelve b ridges on the 512 motorway tor Bobby Symons and Peter Lait and more for Brian Herd and Brian Oliver on the Eastern Bypass. He did numerous jobs lor Jack Horner and was site

agent, general foreman or concrete toreman depending on the

not thinking about that yet.

e

I

nioy the open-air construction

life. The company has played fair

with me and I've played lair with them. I'm happy in my job."

Staff briefs

Koos Mabona started with Grinaker Transvaal in 1969 as a carpenter's a ssls ta n t. He

changed direction to become a driver lor Grinaker Plant in 1974 and says: "l've driven a numbet of bakkies around the clock without a single accident." He is married, with four children. He is not really interested in sport but is very involved in church work. "l like music," he says, "and I'm a singer (tradilional) and a bible reader." His formula for safe driving is well worth considering. "Don't d rive too fast," he says, "and always think about what the other driver wants to do." Gttnakot Gazetta Match 19a3

lour grandchildren. "l used to play golf , rugby and soccer," he says, "but now lget enough exercise is married, with f our sons and

running up and down on the crushet. He has a house in Prince Albert and a small farm near Bloemfontein.

"l

want

to

build there when lretire," he says, "and do odd jobs on a freelance basis when lfeel like it. I'll enjoy not having to work under pressure any more." Diana Hallowes, BA in literature from Natal University in Pietermaritzbutg end honours trom Wits, joined the Grinaker Gazette in June last year. She enjoys creative work and is involved in writing, editing, photography, layout and press reieases. She ls married with three childten, and says. "l used to play a lol ol lennis. squash and table tennis but now its only golf . As a tamily we en joy

camping and hiking child ren's Iegs seem kee

a bit

ping up." She

but

the

short tor

enioys

gardening, sewing, bird-watching and writing. She a/so has a deep interesl in classical mustc and plays the piano. " l have a construction backg round," she says, "if you count rcnovating of houses as construction and I have a passion for travel. We've been to the UK and most of Europe and one day I'd like to go around the world. But I'll ptobably have to be content with staying at home and writing a book."

nical assistant. Today he is acontracts manager of considerable repute and a director of Grinaker Zululand. He is married, with three childen, and says, "l was never really interested in sport but since l've been in Zululand I've caught the disease so / 90 running." He plays a strong game of chess (1400 to 1500 rating) and has teatured in the Natal

championships.

"l also en joy

ballroom dancing," he says, "and I've caught the computer bug." This last aftliction has produced

an exemplary earthworks

program which is used in Zululand contracts.

*: Eric 'please spell my surname correctly' Gillam ioined Grinaker Plant in 1981 as an accountant. He is currently assistant company secretary for Grinaket Plant lnland. He is married and says, "l've

played cricket, rugby, soccer, tennis and the rest but now I'm

just a hacker at goll and a wizard al sguash. As a youngsler he won international gold medals f or photography and he still takes pictures. "l spend a lot of time studying lor a B.Comm. through Unisa," he says, "but I'm building up a motorbike bought secondhand from the company. Still, I would say that my main interest is

gardening and doing things atound lhe house. my home is very much the important thing."

Alan Rankin came to South Atrica

trom the UK in 1975 and ioined Amalgamated Reinforcing as national marketing manager in January this year. He a/so lakes care of quality assurance. He ls married, with three children, and is a water sport enthusiast. "l do water ski;ng and lhave my own boat and outboard. he says. He is a do-it-yourself fanatic who works on cars. houses and anythtng else. He also plays the piano accordion (not for money ) and has won two medals for lilesaving in his time. "Then of

course lwas brought up in St Andrews in Scotland," he says, "so llike my golt."

Oom Bessie Bester joined Grinaker Plant as a mechanic at lxopo in 1966. Then he erected the original Zulu Stone crusher near Empangeni and currently handles a statf ot seventy people as crusher foreman at the Bay Stone Sa/es dolerite quarry. According lo legend Oom Bessie talks to crushers. "But ldon't let them talk back to me," he says. He Atinaket Gazette Metch 19A3

Roberto Buson holds an ltalian diploma in civil e ng inee ting which he obtained in Asmara, Ethiopia. He came to South Alrica in 1965 and joined Grinaker Zululand in the same year as a tech-

Andrew Fyvie, B.Sc. in civil engin-

eering lrom the University of Cape Town gathered valuable 29

experience

trom Muttay

&

Stewart and a tirm ol consultants before joining Grinaker Nalal in 1980. He made his television debut while working on the

Phoenix bridge and is currently site agent for the massive Umkomaas and Mahlongwana viaducts. He is married, with two sons at presenl. "l'm a wetersport man," he says, "surfing, spear fishing and sailing but there

are no really good sailing waters

near here." He plays the guitar and organizes a singing groupfor the local church. He is also a keen photographer and has been a treelance iournalist. "We're into caravanning as well," he says, "and we rent a big house where it takes me two days to mow the lawn. But I like being at home because I think family lile is vety important."

gramming, systems desig n, analysis and managing computer installations. He started his career at NCR and Cheese-

brough-Ponds. He has also been a management consultant for Price Waterhouse and group computer consultant lor Protea Holdings and joins Grinaker Computing Services alter running a computer bureau in Durban. He is a keen sportsman and recently played

first division tennis in Durban, as well as being an ex Natal rugby player.

'Van' retires Andries Kruger inspects a gltt presented to him at Elandsfontein And ries Kruger joined the group in 1965 and became workshop manager ol the

Grinaker Plant workshops at Elandsfontein. ln Jan uary this year he was promoted to plant manager tor the

G rinaker Plant northern area, based in Pretoria. (

ln

land

)

ln the

Peter Sturgeon arrived in January from New Zealand to join Grinaker Precast (Transvaal) in the masonry division. He has

many years of experience in the use of masonry. One of his functions will be as technical advisor in the marketing team to oller practical, well proven solutions to clients who are

unlamiliar with concrete m

aso

n

ry.

Athol Wallace joined Grinaker Computing Services as Data

Processing Manager in January. He has wide experience 30

in

computer pro-

'Van'van der Walt retired at the end of January this year after thirty-four years with the group.

He was one

of the 'Twenty-

Threes'a select group of people born in 1923 which includes Ola Grinaker. Mike Bush and Peter Nuyten.

He started with the group as a carpenter in 1948 and ended his Grinaker career as the chairman of Grinaker Conc rete Construction. His success story can have lew equals in the construction industry. His major contracts included the Durban sugar terminals, the Shabaniasbestos mill (largest civil contract yet undertaken by the group) and the Ellis Park stadium. ln an earlier interview with the Gazette he said, "When lretire I don't want to sail around the world and things like that, ljust want to ride horses and grow things." Van's many friends at Grinaker wish him every good fortune for the future. May the riding be good and may whatever he plants grow tall.

meantime

his

son,

Grinaker b u rsar Johannes Petrus Kruger trom Grinel,

achieved the amazing record ol six distinctions in his electrical engineering finals at the Rand Afrikaans University. ln the best Kruger tradition his un

iversity career has

been

studded with distinctions and awards.

Johannes Kruger (six distinc-

tions in his finals) holds the 'best student'cup which he won four times Gtinaket Gazeng March

19A3

Congratulations for long The Grinaker group has an enviable reputalion for low slaff turn-

over and long service from employees. Below is a list ol

people who have been with the group .for twenty-five years or longer. Unfortunately the list includes only those people who were still on the staff when the list was compiled this year. Old timers will remember niany Grinaker personalities with more than twentyfive years of service who retired in years gone by. Every effort has been made to publish a complete list. However, if anyone has been lelt olf, the Gazette will gladly publish their names in the next issue. Ola Grlnaker, chairman ol Grinaker Holdings,37 years

Arlhur Reynold!, director of

Johanne3 Mgldl, concrete hand, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 30 years Nqanawe Dlamlnl, earthworks supervisor,

Grinaker

Mbovane Olamlnl, drilling supe isor,

Grinaker Construction (North), 37 years Zlkode Thumowake, f ixer, Amal gamated Reinforcing, 36 years

Thomas Hlubl, steelfixer, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 25 years

Mqhathlzwe Xulu, labourer, Amalgamated Reinforcing, 29 years

visor, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal),

Grinaker Construction (Transvaal),

30

Fana Nzlmande, labourer, Amalgamated Reinforcing, 29 years Lou Gluckman, director ol Grinaker Concrete Construction, 28 years

Halvy Halvoraen, carpenter,Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 28 years

Tommy Lundy, concrete

lo re man, Grinaker Construction (Natal), 28 years

Petrus Slzrne, maintenance hand, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal),

28

Shadrack Mokoena, kerblaying supea25 years

AbJam Mobwenl, driver, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 25 years

Kellh coodall, sales manager,

Amal-

gamated Reinforcing, 25 years

Another kind of long service

yea rs

Zacharla Seleka, printroom controller, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 28 years

Wllllam Gabula, maintenance

hand,

Grinaker Construction (Transvaal),

28

Bose Phepheng, steelfixing supervisor, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 28 years \ryll3on Tshayhunge, labourer, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 28 years

Kudu Mbokazl, labourer, Amalgamated

Mlke Bu3h, vice-chairman of Grinaker Holdings, 35 years 'Van' yan der Walt, chairman, Grinaker Concrete Construction, (retired January 1983),34 years

Elphas i,ncube, traine., Grinaker Construction (Natal), 27 years Meruyn Dlron, managing director Amalgamated Reinlorcing, 27 years

Wllle

Solomon Magano, steelfixer, Grinaker

35 years

Shaba16la, steelfixing supervisor, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 33 years

Johannâ&#x201A;Źs Mo3hebe, operator, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 32 years

Joseph Tumelo, shultering supervisor, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 32 yea rs

lshmael Tahaela, building supervisor, Grinaker Precast, 32 years

Macalâ&#x201A;Źnl Clllza, labourer, Amalgamated Reinforcing, 32 years Hlollmpl Mdcece, labourer, Amalgamated Reinforcing, 32 years

loreman,

Grinaker Construction (Natal), 31 years

Nevllle Lyle, managrng director, Grinaker Zimbabwe, 31 years Johanne3 Mrhlbe, final level grader,

Grinaker Construction (North), 27 years

Brand Molete, construction hand, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal),.

27

years

Dave Ma.ala, managing director of Grinaker Projects, 26 years

Manuel De Souza, earthworks foreman, Grinaker Constructlon (Natal), 26 years. Jacob Mzlzl, maintenance hand, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 26 years

Mtalho Ndcobo, labourer, Amalgamated Reinforcing, 26 years

Oamlao De Souza, general loreman, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 25 years

Danlel Dllabe, construction hand,

Jan Slqlfens, general foreman, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 25 years

Grinaker Construction (Transvaal),

31

years

Jan Lenloa, concreting supervisor, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal),

31

OBITUARY

Jacobua Dlkeledl, construction hand,

Oennls Cowell, general loreman, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 25 years

years

The speedometer ol the old lady ot the Elandsfontein fleet, a 1975 Mercedes model 1921 , showing over a half a million kilometres on the clock

Construction (Transvaal), 27 years

31

Grinaker Construction (Zululand),

GnnakBt Gaz6n6 MEt.h 19A3

years

years

Reinforcing, 28 years Myumenl Zondo, labourer, Amalgamated Reinforcing, 28 years Anadeu Nunes, managing director of Grinaker Plant (Coastal), 27 years

Masuku Mylnl, fixer, Amalgamated reinforcing, 36 years Peler Nuylen, director Grinaker Holdings,

years

Steven Dlkobe, shuttering supervisor, Grinaker Construction (Transvaal), 25

years

Holdings, 37 years

Joe Lancaster; earthworks

se rvrce

Joe Blerman, concrete foreman, Grinaker Precast, 25 years George Nobrega, foreman, Grinaker Concrete ConstrLrction, 25 years

Herbert'Steve' Steveni, design engineer and head ol the drawing oflice for Amalgamated Reinforcing in New Germany, passed away on 20 November 1982. He joined Grinaker Construction (Natal) in May 1963 to work on the sugar terminal contracts and was transterred to Amalgamated four months later. During World War ll he saw service in

North Al rica and was wounded. His courage, good humour and outstanding

design ability will be remembered by his stafl and the many people who knew and admired

him. We extend sincere condolences to his wile Elise, his three children and two grandch ild ren. 31

Costing retrospective by Ken

N

utte r

Whilst Rogers scans the George Goch ln search of secret agent new Our Jan is down at Vickers Road With station mastel Visser tool We've found some costs - ii s quite a ioad And yes we've got some on cost - ooh! All eyes keep up, the launch is swell There's plenty money every push. Old Main Reef Road can go to hell To finish there - well what's the rush? We've lound more costs it makes one yell.

''We ll get

it back in claims.' Just flushl

One white leopard sitting in a tree. Plop! the lool fell oll.

and l who iirst behe d The wondrous site of our Bucclelrch: With scrapers scrambling o'er the veldtReplaced too soon by track rigs - newl Our hopes of proflt then did melt With our through rate of twenty-twol

Bursars excel

T was Dick

all looked round and said "Not mei" Fred's brackets! lears did not allay, And there we were with GCT Held spellbound now by Jack's form Al Dave whimpered 'Jock next meetingWe

"We'll get the rack - and now let's pray. Five white leopards sitting in a tree. Plop! one lell off. When Earry and Bob rode o'er the ridge, The boven skies a lovely hue, All set to see the doctor's bridge Till now I wonder what else too. The stable flies right down to midge Descended on the few. Too truel

With Mining dlgging two iarge hoies, A big red job now adding spice, That two three five - ten thousand moles. We cost it once to claim it thrice ln terracing and those two holes. Ye Godsl tbat lorm A's looking nice.

subsequently reached Gnnair. But the manuals are missing.

The suggestion is that

the manuals may have been mistaken for engineering or adve rtising literature and may be somewhere in one ol the group's oftices. Anyone who can assist with the search should 'phone Barnie van den Berg at Grinair (011) 80-1119 head office

Blame it on Chaucer

his th ree years at the University

of Cape Town and Johannes Kruger obtained six distinc-

tions in his finals at the Rand Alrikaans University.

Marty makes good

(01 1) 39-5777.'

Substantial reward offered

re o utsta nd in g: Enzo Menegaldo has achieved ten lirsts out of eleven courses in

Pardon us if we tell a tale about

how the great poet Chaucer made a spelling mistake. ln 1386 he wrote on the basic intelligence ol man: "A man hath sapiences thre, memorie, eng in and intellect."

The word'engin'should

apparently have been spelt with an 'i' instead of an 'e' to follow the Latin spelling of 'ingenium' (whence ingen uity). ln English the word 'engineer' lollows Chaucer's incorrect'e' while in French, German,

Plop! one lell olf.

Plop! one fell off. Then Joe and Ric to pastures new Wilhin Kevin, Col. and Garvie there. But could it be t'was Concor too? A combination rather rare, To make some tom and not to rue. Its Western Deep - and we were therei

and the covering letter

we

Fout while leopards sitting tn a tteo.

loopads sitting in a lree.

manuals was sent from Amtec in

the USA to Grinair. The parcel was signed for at Bedtordview

Grinaker bursars, all of whom passed their university engineering exdminations at the end of 1982. Some of the results

thirty P he said. Fred's brackets! fears did noi allay; A pause. "So how much have we made?" ''For June, one hundred down I'll lay, And that includes some July tradel" "Oh no! but that's the same as [,4ayl"

Three white

A parcel of valuable instrument

or Sue Coertse or Ernie Vels at

Congratulations to the

"We forecast

A million yards of slime ahead, Four bridges, culverls and a wa 1. "Some demolition first. ' we said. Smell proiits? We shall have a balll And furthermore we don't have Fred; At Booysens el us all walk tall. Provls onial cost and underclairn Abound despite Hugh Dodd and Dave. lnsurance was our major aim Form A s to make cost rneetings rave. With beer galore our thirsts lo tame A team ike that just had to savel

LOST

Two white leopards sitting in a trce. Plopl ono lell olf.

Italian and other

major

lang uages the 'i' ol ingenium is

used.

Marty le Chat joined Grinaker Plant (Coastal) as a diesel litter apprentice in New Germany on 5 January 1981, wilh a standard ten education. ln 1981 he completed grade N4 at the Technikon in Durban. ln 1982 he achieved out-

standing results

in

grade

N5,

being awarded a cup for the best student of the year as well as a shield for the mosl outstanding pertormance. Du ring the first block in 1983 he will complete grade N6 and is due to take his trade test in Oclober.

According to experts the English word'engineer' has therefore been d istanced lrom the true nature of'the work of the engineer which is said to be the exercising ol ingenuily in the application of knowledge. Since it is too late to settle acco u nts with Chaucer, English speaking eng ineers at Grinaker who feel slighted by this have another solution. They can switch to speaking Afrikaans where the word is spelt the right way as 'ingenieur'. G nakat

Ga2ett6 Match 1933

Rl0 crossword No

16

Please send entries to: Crossword', PO Box 8042, Elandsfontein 1406

-:im

,11

':

.l-,-''.' li-

'il

':.!!ettt'*ii.rFr6idr;.r*--:-,

ACROSS

1 The home of rum and rebel cricket (4, 6) 6 lnitially an unidentified flying obJect (3) 7 One gets involved with heavenly bodies in these flights (6) 9 Cane from Ararat, Tanganyika

Petat Nuyten, chairman ol G nakor Construction ( Ply ) Limited preparcs to firc the noonday cannon in Hong Kong. with him are Bttan Hord from Ginaker Transvaal and Alan Dawson frcm Grinaker Natal. lt mado an incredible noise they say. Duting a tecent business visit to Hong Kong they were given the honout ol firing lhe cannon by Jardine, Matheson and Company Limited who have perlormed the lunction lot many yeats.

Solution to Crossword No 15

r

rlAlu

ho

(6)

LIr

10 Briel introduction (5)

Namibian takes mother to a gu n ner (6) 14 Green variety (5) 16 Gogga - it comes f rom the north (3) 17 Southern code for concrete mixture (6) 18 Fuss at a party, we hear (3) 19 Greatly love an entrance? (5) 22 At home in Linden (2) 23 Boastlul bird? (4) 25 Bare king turns to SA's best construction company (8) 26 Egyptian goddess exists twice

lron Man

11

u

T

u ,SH

RS A

,UPR

Keith Kuhn ol Grinaket Zululand camo 4th

ovetall tn Nara/ s masochrslic I

The lucky winnor was Ch s Crutchley of Grinaker Concrete Conslruclion. P.O.

mastetpiece, the lrcn Man competition, which includes the Comrades Maralhon, the Duzi Canoe Marathon and lho Midmat

Box 90, New Getmany

(4)

DOWN

1 Lay it on the line atter this clean up (7) 2 Begin to get a fright (5) 3 I am a friend ot a South African buck (6) 4 Pudding is little Susan to a T (4) 5 Discovered a country without a northern capital lor a

8

base

(10)

Zimbabwe of old (8) 12 Spoil mother, we hear (3) 13 Litile And rew (4) 15 Ned sure changes and stays on and on (7) 20 Dash for the arrow (4) 21 A phone call brings the circle (4) 24 Little lsaac at the back ol the

bike (3) Gnnakqt Gaz6ll6 March 19a3

Grinakor Ttansvaal squash team. Back: Ettol Tessendotf, Colla S6a.s, Steve Bullent. Front: Keith Daly, lan Weit, Allan Bailey, Allan Willatd, Peter Brown. Absont: Bilf Lowis, Kevin Hartis, K6vin Quayle, Joe de Kl6rk, Luther Dann, Roy Jutzen, Kevin Robins, Vic Watden, Rob Campbell, Piet Coelzer. Tho Transvalerc losl10-12 to Gtinaket Prcjecls and beat Davsteel 12-11

Zululand soccer: 'Up the Bucs' by Linda Cele off icial PRO for Golden Pi rates, Zululand

as early as 1978. lt must be noted that the trio were, and still are, Grinaker Zulula nd employees. The idea of starting a team was

enthusiastically received by Zululand management and it opened the way lor the team to

take part in Grinaker inter-company soccer competitions. It can now be safely said that inter-company soccer created a lot ol zeal and team spirit lrom pleyers and company management. During 1978 and .1979 Grinaker Zululand's Golden Pirates took part in the O. Grinaker Shield Tournament. The known, pertormed commendably in these Golden Pirates is the brainchild ol three soccer stalwarts, namely

Absolom 'Ten-Te n' Kubeka, Amon'Bhazo' Buthelezi and

Jacob Zulu. The idea of lorming a team unfolded in White Umfolozi

Association league at amateur level in 1980. The beginnings were tough but the team managed to finish off at number lour on the log. This was a giant leap lor Golden Pirates and it spelt a rosy luture for the team which joined the Kwazulu Natal Leag ue promotion in 1981 . The team worked very hard and they tinished number one in the promotion

Football

leag ue

league.

One must make mention of hard fought games played during the 1981 promotion season. The

toughest one was when

we

'Bucs'as they became

flattened zulu Royals in the Bee

games and they were narrowly defeated by die-hards from Grinel in the finals when theywentdown 3 2 in extra time. After such a splendid display of football the club decided to join the Sikawini Ongoye Football

r-finals. Most untortunately we ended up losing the semi-finals to Usutu Royals at Coronation. During mid-1981 the team was lortunate enough to secure the

@

Gee KO competition at Kh a ya leth u Stadium in the

q ua rte

lt-'

It \_

Golden Pirates team. Back: Lesley (Waga-Waga) Ntombela, Simon Mlambo, Ben (Nono) Khoza, Simphiwe (Digger Jazz) Shozi, Desmond Thembinkosi Mthiyane, Lucky (Popie) Chonco. Front: Erasmus Jomo Khanyile, Artion (Sikiza) Buthelezi, captain, Sali Qwabe, Ephriam (Cutter) Mhlungu, Bongani Cele 34

Atinakat Ga2otto Merch 19a3

of our current team manager Eph riam Jikijela Ndaba who has done a lot to inspire the team. The position was lurther st re ngthened by L.J. Cele (myself) joining the team management in mid-1982 as the club's PRO. ln 1982 the team was promoted to the tirst division of the Kwazulu Natal Football League, to say nothing ol the fact that they were runners-up in the 1981/2 Bata Shoe KO competition. The 1982 season has seen the team h olding the reins as log leaders and the 'Bucs'are determined to hold the number one position to the bitter end. The Bata Shoe com petiiion created a lot of enthusiasm and we admit that it was no smooth sailing lor Golden Pirates. The q uarter-tinals we re played against Peacemaker FC who went services

down30atKhayalethu

Stadium. The semi-finals were at

the same venue between 'Bucs' and Briadene FC but unforiunately for Briadene luck did not hold for them and 'Bucs' beat them 1 - 0. Power City were blown out ol the Bata KO competition at the last hurdle. A sharper and more in ve ntive Grinaker Golden Pirates beat them to take the trophy with a 2 - Q victory at

Curries Fountain on Sunday 23 uary th is year. Power City's defence became more vulnerable during the dying Jan

minutes of the second half . LesleY Ntom bela (Waga-Waga) our

striker came close to scoring a goal during the first halt butall his shots were deflected by the agile Power City goalkeeper. Our midlielder Ephriam Mhlungu

(Cutter) who knifed his way through on a number of occasions initially lacked the skill to unsettle Power City defence in a game that never lacked enter-

pressurized Power City detence to such an extent that they were forced to hold the ball by hand in

the penalty area.

Waga-Waga

wasted no time and netted the goal putting Golden Pirates 2 - 0 ahead. Power City tried hard to reduce the deficit but the Golden Pirates rearguard now had a tight grip on things and there was no fu rther score. The trophy can be seen in the boardroom ol Grinaker Zululand's head office at Alton in Richards Bay. "Up the Bucs."

tainment. Perhaps an ominous h int was the strength ot Power City defence.

The score at half time was 0 -

0

and this was bad news for Golden

Pirates management. We had a talk lo our'boys'to apply more pressure. This paid d ividends because during the second half Power City's formidable defence was in disarray. We were unfortunate not to score a goal untilthe 40th minute when Cutter received a good pass from Waga Waga and wasted no time in send ing in a lierce d rive which left the Power City goalie completely baffled. There were shouts from all over the pavillion with spectators crying out, "UP the Bucs. "

From this point on Golden Pirates

The trophy for the Bata Shoe KO

competition won Pirates

by

Golden

in January this Year

SA Federation trophy winners

Allan Bailey ot Grinaker Computer Services holds the SA Federction of Civil Engineering Contractors squash trophy which he won as the best man player Gtihdkdt Gd26ne March 1983

Tennis doubles partners Leo Schtieder and Kevin Venter won the Conroux tloating trophy af the SA Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors sports day 35

North wins keen cricket contest by Ken Buchanan-Clarke

the Northern Knockers ran up 177 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Gary Richmond made 70 runs

and Jan Pienaar a healthy

63,

both batsmen retired u ndefeated. Precast Skipper Ken BuchananClarke (the noted author of this article) skittled 4 wickets f or 18 runs. The Precast Pulverisors'reply at the crease was a brave 159 with

Zoei Beneke scoring 45 and Pat Green a fine 44 not out. Brian Oliver proved the trickiest bowler by taking 5 wickets for 38 runs. The end result was North won by 18 runs and took oft with the new Precast Challenge Shield. A braai was held after the game and North nearly succeeded in consuming as many beers as runs made.

'Cricket is the game of gentlemen watched by fools' could well be the converse ol what really happened at Edenvale Sports Ground when Grinaker Precast Transvaal met Grinaker Construction North recently. With hands more accustomed to waiving costs than willow bats,

Getting one away

Concentration at the crease

Precast players enjoying the braai afterwards

'?

I

Brian Oliver of Grinaker North receives the Precast Challenge Shield trom John Siebert

Transvaal beats North in another close encounter A cricket malch

between

rinaker Transvaal and Grinaker North took place at the Modderfontein Sports Club on Sunday 6 Februa ry 1983. Transvaal went in tirstand scored exactly one hundred (easy to count) with a lusty thirty-three lrom Rob Blom being the highest individual score. Best bowler from North was Gary Richmond who took four for thirteen. North's turn at the crease prod uced a slig htly lower eig hty-n ine all out with Don lsmay making thirty-one. Best bowler ot the day was the inimitable Kevin Quayle ol Transvaal who p rod uced Iigures of four wickets tor only eight runs. G

36

G naket Gaz6

6 March 19A3

Natal wins lad ies' sq uash clouds had

Sporting Grinaker Concrete Construction T-shirts and broad smiles of anticipation, the inland ladies'squash team boarded the airbus to Durban on Friday 12 November. A weekend atthe Blue Waters hotel lay ahead ol them, with the firsl ever Transvaal ve

m

irac

u

lously lifted

and the Transvalers spent a blissful, il blistering, day on the beach before retu rn ing to Johannesburg in the even ing.

Once again the Natal girls provided transport. Thanks go to them and to everyone who helped

rsus Natal ladies'squash

tournament to be played at the Disc Bowl courts on the beachlront. The team was met at the airport by members ol the opposing Natal side, who joined the Transvalers lor drinks and sandwiches in the ladies' bar at the Blue Waters. lnstructions to get a good night' slee p fell on deaf ears in the excitement of seeing Durbs out of Christmas rush reason. The tournament was held the next day in luxurious conditions at the air-cond itioned, g las s-bac ked courts. Each team consisted ol nine players, five in the A section and four in the B section. The tournament was played in round robin lashion, with each player playing all the opponents in her section. The squash was hectic and there were a lot ol purplefaced players by the end ol the day in spite of the air-conditioning. A never-ending flow ol coke,

organize the event, in particular Madeleine Clark of Natal and lrene Roland and Jenni Rough lrom the Transvaal. This promises to be a popular annual event and any one who is interested will be welcome to Play next year. Start practising now.

The winners, Natal. Back: Colleen Lennie, Carol van der Westhuizen, Pauline Parmeggiani. Centre: Helen Jansen, Jenny Dias. Fronl:

Madeleine Clark, Karen Eysele, Joan Fouquereaux, Michelle Gauld

orange juice and kit-kats sustained the participants and

despite valiant opposition from the Transvalers, Natal ran out easy winners. The results were: Natal A won 187; Natal B won 1 1-5. A magnificent cup, donated by Flemingo Plant Hire, was presented to

N/adeleine Clark, the Nata captain, by Keith Cowling of I

Grinaker Precast, and each Natal

player received a

m in

iatu re

trophy.

Atter a much-needed rest the teams, plus a few supporters, assembled at the Edward Hotel lor a Chinese dinner. This proceeded with decorum until a large Durban cockroach crawled out of

the woodwork and

stampeded halt the Transvaal side. Food and wine were excellent and most of the ladies were all too happy to sink into their beds by midnight.

Sunday dawned cool and overcast, but by late breakfast time the Gtinakat Ca2dtd March 19a3

Transvaal team. Back: Enid Guise, Heather Davis, Patricia Day. Centre: Leonie Botha (standing), Suzanne West, Zeona Deyzel, Jenni Rough. Frcnt: Joan Stanley, Kathy de Goede, Debbie Ward, lrene Roland

'X&*..:,: 8x*{}-,1

Transvaal players relax in the surt

Natal won, but the Transvalers shared the champagne

Trophies were donated by Flemingo Plant Hire

lf you know the name ot this player send a blank postal order for Rl0

@4.ZETTE