Down Memory Lane

For most people, their working lives extends over a period of some 36 to 40 years, However, this does not necessarily apply to institutions such as this Society. The Society celebrated its 50th anniversary in September 2006. The history of the Society can be divided into distinct milestones and periods:

1. [1] The first 14 years from 1956 to 1970: Public Service Association (SOPOE)
2. [2] The second period of 21 years from 1970 to 1991: Staff Association, Dept. P&T (SOPOE)
3. [3] The third period from October 1991 to 2008: Society of Telkom Engineers, Telkom SA Ltd.
4. [4] The period from June 2008 onwards: Recognized ECSA Voluntary Association (VA)

PERIOD 1: SEPTEMBER 1956 TO NOVEMBER 1970

As most Engineers in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs had been technicians before becoming engineers, they had retained their membership of the South African Telecommunications Association (SATA). Some however, felt that their interests would be better catered for by a staff association exclusive to engineers. An informal start was made in September 1956 and negotiations began with the Public Service Association (PSA). It was agreed that the Society would be called the Society of Post Office Engineers (SOPOE). Other names had been suggested, but problems had arisen with abbreviations that had embarrassing connotations, This Society would form a subsection of the PROTECH (Professional/Technical), section of the PSA.

The formal start of the Society was on Monday 5 August 1957 and the provisional chairman Mr. NG (Neil) Black was confirmed as the first Chairman of the SOPOE. Mr. Black retained the chairmanship for 2 years until August 1958. The second Chairman was Mr. KHB (Keith) Tweedie who held office for 2 years from August 1958 to August 1960. During the period September 1956 to June 1961, Mr. IJ (Jimmy) Taylor was the first Secretary of the Society. As Secretary, he also acted as Treasurer and this latter task was an easy one, as subscriptions (only 20c a month) were paid directly to the PSA, who in turn paid over to the Society a very small "petty cash" to cover incidental expenses. Mr. KB (Ken) Bird became the third Chairman in August 1960 and presided over the 1st Congress held in 1961. It had been decided that a Vice–Chairman was necessary and Dr. CF (Charles) Boyce was the first incumbent of this office (September 1960 to January 1961). From January 1961 to August 1961, Mr. JP du P Coetzer was the (second) Vice–Chairman. Mr. Coetzer was the first Honorary Life Member but died before the 2nd Congress held in 1964. Mr. Bird was re–elected Chairman at the 1st Congress in August 1961 and retained this office until the 2nd Congress in August 1964.

During this 3–year period, Mr. AF (Alan) Bennett was Vice–Chairman. Mr. ER (Eric) Wood was elected (the fourth) Chairman at the 2nd Congress. He remained in office until the 3rd Congress in September 1967. Mr. EN (Ponty) Paton was Vice–Chairman from August 1964 to March 1967 when Mr. SP (Stan) de Vigne took over this position. The 5th (and last) Chairman was Mr. SP (Stan) de Vigne who was elected at the 3rd Congress in September 1967. The Vice–Chairman was Mr. DJ (Dawie) Malan and both held office until the 4th Congress (November 1970). For most of this 14–year period, Mr. Malan was also the Society representative to the PROTECH section of the PSA. Also during this period, many negotiations took place between the Society and the PSA on the one hand and between the Society and the PMG and Department on the other. These included items such as salaries, progression, promotions and other benefits for members. Some were successful, others unsuccessful and some needed many years of constant and regular "drip–by–drip" treatment before being resolved.

PERIOD 2: NOVEMBER 1970 TO OCTOBER 1991.

Towards the end of the first period, the Department of Posts and Telecommunications was in the process of becoming autonomous and breaking away from the overall public service. These necessitated changes to the Society and after much discussion and long negotiations with the PSA and the Department, the Society of PO Engineers became the 4th Staff Association within the Department and severed the connection with the PSA. A constitution was drawn up and was adopted at the 4th Congress held in November 1970. The Congress was honoured by the presence of the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (The Hon. Basie van Rensburg). The office of Secretary/Treasurer was split into two separate posts and the positions of Chairman and Vice–Chairman were replaced by those of PRESIDENT and VICE–PRESIDENT. Control was to be carried out by a Central Executive Committee located in Pretoria and the Society was divided into eight branches (Cape Western, Cape Eastern, Transvaal, Witwatersrand, OFS and Northern Cape, Natal, South West Africa and the Chief Engineer's Office). Total membership was ± 235 Engineers out of a total of some 250 Engineers in the Department.

The elected office-bearers (for 3 years) were:

• President: Mr. DJ (Dawie) Malan
• Vice–President: Mr. L (Louis) Zerbst
• Secretary: Mr. TJ (Theuns) Kotze
• Treasurer: Mr. SVW (Stan) Clarke

Although elected for 3 years, Mr. DJ (Dawie) Malan resigned as President after 18 months. This was due to his promotion to the rank equivalent to the level of Director; this established a tradition that on reaching that level, a member – whilst retaining membership – would no longer hold office in the Society. Mr. Malan retired in 1990 and was made an Honorary Life Member. Mr. L (Louis) Zerbst took over as President for the remaining 18 months, until the 5th Congress in August 1973. At this Congress, Mr. Zerbst was elected President with Mr. E (Ted) Stacey as Vice–President. It was at about this time that a competition was held to select an appropriate logo for the Society (winner: Mr. Phil Minnaar – prize: R 10–00). Mr. Zerbst did not complete his term of office, again due to promotion at the end of 1974. Mr. Stacey took over as President and Mr. GC (George) Bothma was elected Vice–President. The 6th Congress was held in November 1976 and Mr. Stacey was elected President with Mr. Bothma as Vice–President. Due to the improved financial state of the Society, it was decided to make several changes to the method of operating the Society. These were:

[1] Congresses would no longer be held. Instead, Branch Chairmen would attend the 6–monthly Central Executive Committee (CEC) meetings (changed to Central Executive Council in 1984). These CEC meetings would be held on a Saturday in April and October. Every 6th CEC meeting (i.e.: the October meeting every 3 years) would be an election meeting for the selection of office–bearers.

[2] During the even months between CEC meetings, a Central Management Committee (CMC) would meet. This committee consisted of the office–bearers plus a representative (living in the Pretoria/Witwatersrand area), for each branch.

[3] To ease day–to–day running of the Society, a small Action Committee consisting of the President, Vice–President, Secretary and two elected members, would meet as often as necessary; in general this was once or twice a month. At the October 1979 CEC meeting, Mr. Stacey retired as President and was also made an Honorary Life Member of the Society. Mr. GC (George) Bothma was elected as the 4th President with Mr. BA (Ben) Bets as Vice–President. During the late l970s, it was decided to create the grade of Honorary Life Member and those who have been elected to this grade have been, or will be, mentioned as their names arise in this history.

The other change to membership that took place in 1979 was when the first 13 Technologists completed their academic training and were appointed to this new rank. They were given the opportunity to join the SOPOE. This they did and all Technologists are still catered for by the Society today. As a result, the Constitution was completely revised and formally adopted in October 1982. Over the years, many Technologists have played an active role in the Society and held office at many levels. Noteworthy, is Mr. NL (Nic) van Rooyen who had been a very active and highly valued member in both Branch and CEC affairs, The October 1982 CEC meeting was an election meeting and Mr. Bothma was elected as President for the second term of office with Mr. Bets re–elected as Vice–President. During 1984 it was decided that in order to advertise the Society outside the Department and to create an awareness of the Society among suitable students, a prize should be awarded to the best final year engineering (Telecommunications) student. Due to practical difficulties and to reach a wider field, it was decided to obtain the co–operation of the engineering faculties in selecting the prize–winner(s). The solution was, instead of awarding one prize, to give individual prizes at all Universities with engineering faculties. These were: Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Natal, Durban–Westville, Potchefstroom, Randse Afrikaans, Witwatersrand and Pretoria. Pretoria Technikon was included for the best Technologist student. The first prizes were awarded in 1984 (for the 1983 academic year). Each of the 9 prizes was worth R 50–00. The prizes were paid from donations received from Society members. The following year the prizes were increased to R 200–00 and later to R 250–00. Later, gold–plated medals were struck and suitably engraved, and handed over with the prize cheque. Presentation of the prizes was carried out by the local branch chairperson. For 1991, the prizes amounted to R 300–00 plus the medal. Also in 1984, a quarterly newsletter was introduced. A competition for a suitable name was held and the winner was Mr. Willem Krige (prize = R 25–00). The name selected was: COMMUNICA. Mr. Krige became the first Editor subsequently. The same year saw the adoption of a Society tie. These were available in two colours (Maroon and Dark Blue) with the Society logo in gold. Later gold–plated cuff–links were introduced.

During this period, a grade of Associate Member was created to cater for retired members. The first two to avail themselves of this new grade were Messrs AF (Alan) Bennett and RF (Roly) Munyard. Early in 1985, Mr. Bothma was promoted and transferred to Natal. He stepped down as President and Mr. BA (Ben) Bets took over the Presidency. Mr. TJ (Theuns) Kotze was elected Vice–President in April 1985. The CEC meeting in October 1985 was the next election meeting. It was anticipated that Mr. Bets would be elected as President, but this was not to be as he was promoted and felt he was unable to stand. Mr. Bets therefore, has the unique status of having been the first President (or Chairman), of the Society who was never elected to hold that office. Mr. Bets also made a name for himself (and for the Society), as the main spokesman for all the PO Staff Associations at a meeting with the State President (Mr. PW Botha). Mr. TJ (Theuns) Kotze was elected President with Mr. A (Blackie) Lahoud as Vice–President. These two held office until October 1988 when the next election meeting was held. It was during their term of office that it was decided to amend the Constitution to allow Associate Members to hold non–voting office in the Society.

To ease the burden on serving members, an Associate Member [Mr. SVW (Stan) Clarke was appointed Secretary/Treasurer. At the October 1988 CEC meeting Mr. GR (Geoff) Daniell was elected President (the 7th) with Mr. JH (Jaap) Rus as Vice President. It was during this period that the Department was deeply involved in preparing changes to create two Government owned companies to take over the duties and services of telecommunications and postal affairs respectively. As this would have a considerable impact on the various staff associations, much Society time and effort was taken up with discussions and negotiations on these major changes. The change to a five level management system was one of the most important of these, as this would mean that some 60% of our members would fall into the management category. The area of labour relations was also of major importance and our position could be materially changed by decisions taken in this field. It should be noted that of the 7 recognised staff associations, our Society was the only one with a multi–racial membership. Subscriptions were increased to provide a "buffer" for possible legal costs and the donations to the prize fund were replaced by a 10% levy on subscriptions. This meant that all members were now contributing to the prizes. Consideration was also given to the possible inclusion of other professional staff in our membership. However, this aspect was put on hold at the time (but later implemented).

Mr. Daniell stood down as President at the October 1990 CEC meeting. Mr. JH (Jaap) Rus took over as President for the remaining period of office (one year). Mr. AE (Braam) Esterhuysen was elected Vice–President for the same period. At the same CEC meeting, Mr. DJ (Dawie) Malan (who retired in 1990), was elected the 6th Honorary Life Member, The meeting decided to present all Honorary Life Members with a suitably engraved medal and these were handed over to Messrs Malan, Stacey and Harris at a function held the evening prior to the April 1991 CEC meeting. Mr. Black and Dr Boyce were unable to be present and would receive their medals at some other suitable function(s). It was a great shock to all when Mr. Rus died suddenly in May 1991. This meant that once more the Society had lost the services of a President without him having been elected to this office. Mr. AE (Braam) Esterhuizen took over as President and a special meeting elected Mr. JA (Johan) Raath as acting Vice– President. The two companies, Telkom SA and the SA Post Office were to come into operation from 1 October 1991 and a very small "regulatory" Department of Posts and Telecommunications would be retained. Certain negotiations were held over until after the creation of the Companies.

Over the 21 years in Period 2 many staff problems, benefits and proposals, covering a wide variety of aspects applicable to members, had been handled by the Society. As in Period 1, some had been resolved, others had been unsuccessful and some had dragged on for years. Taken overall, the Society had achieved many successes and sincere thanks and honour are due to the various leaders listed above who had spent so much time, effort and often, inconvenience in trying to improve the position of their fellow Society members.

PERIOD 3: OCTOBER 1991 TO JUNE 2008

Of the ± 370 members (excluding the 5 Honorary Life Members and some 30 Associate Members), 93% were either transferred or were seconded to Telkom SA on 1 October 1991. The remaining few were either retained with the SA Post Office or transferred to the new Department of Posts and Telecommunications but retained their membership of the Society. At the October CEC triennial election meeting, Mr. AE (Braam) Esterhuysen was elected President with Mr. JA (Johan) Raath as Vice–President. This meeting was the third milestone in the life of the Society (the other two were: September 1956 and November 1970). The major change made at the meeting was to rename the Society. The name selected was: The Society of Telkom Engineers (STE). It was decided to retain the existing (and well known) logo unchanged. The name change was thus made.

During 1994 the current President passed on after a sudden illness and Mr W.A (Willem) Krige was elected for the unexpired term of office until Nov 1994. The triennial elections following saw Mr. P.M (Marius) Mostert elected as President. The year also witnessed a dramatic change in the landscape with the adoption of the new Labour Relations Act which provided for collective bargaining changes, notably the introduction of minimum membership representivity percentages underpinning official union recognition status. With the Society’s comparatively limited membership numbers by comparison to the volumetric advantage of the other unions representing the technical corpse, the Society was faced with the critical choice whether to affiliate with one of the other unions to retain some official bargaining power. After careful consideration, this option was discarded in favour of retaining its independence and professional character at the expense of losing all formal bargaining power. For the ensuing years the Society would effectively function as a learned society and went through many periods of soul searching in search of a new fresh purpose within the new organisational landscape. In Nov 1996 Mr. P.M (Marius) Mostert stepped down and Mr. JI (Johan) van Coller) was appointed President for the remainder of the term of office. The triennial elections of Nov 1997 were noteworthy by virtue of the first technologist being appointed as President with the election of Mr. L (Leon) La Grange to the position.

Mr. B.R.W (Baron) Petersen succeeded Mr. La Grange as President for the term 2000 to 2003, and also served as Chief Mentor for Telkom during his tenure. A new memorabilia range consisting of a tie and coffee mug was introduced (which would ultimately serve the Society proud for many years until 2011). As an active council member on the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE), Mr. Petersen was also credited with having established the Centres of Excellence (COE) program for post graduate research at all South African universities with engineering faculties, and being a driving force behind the establishment of the South African Telecommunications Network and Applications (SATNAC) conference held annually as the gala event for the ICT industry. Mr. Petersen sadly passed away from leukemia in 2005 and was succeeded by Mr. P (Peter) Tolsma in Nov 2003.

On the organisational front, a big setback occurred in 2004 when the special remuneration and level progression dispensation enjoyed by engineers and technologists (introduced in 1999) were summarily withdrawn by the company as it was deemed to be prejudicial in respect of other occupational groups, notably computer scientist graduates. The mentorship system for young engineering graduates during their candidacy phase towards professional registration ultimately ended up as collateral damage and effectively disappeared shortly thereafter – statistics over ensuing years would attest of a dramatic drop in professional registration levels

n addition to the above, successive voluntary and involuntary severance packages over the years also had a significant impact on the Society's membership numbers, which reduced from around 360 active members to around 240 members in 2007. At the triennial elections held in May 2007, Mr N (Neil) Jooste was elected as President and Mr. C (Coenie) Brand as Vice President.

PERIOD 4: JUNE 2008 TO PRESENT

An important milestone was accomplished on 12 June 2008 when the Society received recognition and accreditation as a professional engineering Voluntary Association (VA) by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), as contemplated and mandated by the Engineering Profession Act (Act 46 of 2000). This meant that the Society would forthwith enjoy de jurerecognition status alongside other venerable peer voluntary associations such as SAIEE, SAICE, SAIIE, IEEE etc. and be able to participate officially in the engineering profession agenda, governance structures and legislative sphere. The event further entrenched the Society’s character and core mission of representing the professional and occupation interests of engineering practitioners (membership) and promotion of the profession within its full context. To this purpose a decision was also taken to delimit future membership of non–engineering professions and focus solely on serving its core membership group viz. engineers and technologists, in this way returning to its original charter and constitution adopted in 1979. With this new status the Society was now also mandated to accredit engineering training ware for CPD purposes, whereas it previously had to rely on third parties e.g. SAIEE to perform that service. It was with great pride that the first company internal training event was accredited by the Society in June 2010, followed by many more thereafter. Much of the credit goes to Mr. Peter Tolsma for developing and establishing the accreditation system and performing successive training ware accreditations.

At the triennial elections held in Nov 2010 Mr. N (Neil) Jooste was re–elected as President and Mr. W.I (Willie) Engelbrecht elected as Vice–President. At the annual gala dinner function preceding the Central Executive Council meeting, Messrs. Rod Clack (Honorary Treasurer) and Peter Tolsma (Immediate Past President) were also presented with certificates of merit for excellent services rendered to the Society over many years.

The full Council for 2010 consisted of:

• Willie Engelbrecht (Vice President)
• Peter Tolsma (Imm Past President)
• Makhupu Mashao (STE Secretariat)
• Rod Clack (Hon Treasurer)
• Ishant Sukdeo (Hon Editor)
• Kefilwe Madingoane (Chair – Pretoria)
• Arno van der Elst (Chair – Laboratories)
• Peter Reintges (Chair – Centurion)
• Ross Morrison (Chair – South Region)
• Andrew Headley (Chair – Mid Region)
• Graham Attwood (AMLO)
• Clive Clayton (TRF Rep)
• Marius Erwee (Hon Auditor)

Another important milestone was reached in November 2010 with the spearheading and facilitation by the Society of a new Commitment and Undertaking (CU) agreement between Telkom SA and ECSA towards the training and registration of engineering graduates, which in turn provided the necessary impetus for restitution of a professional mentorship program within the company. After a vacuum of six years since disbanding the former mentorship program in 2004, a new invigorated mentorship system would ultimately be launched in May 2011. Mr. Graeme Allan was appointed Chief Mentor of the new Telkom Engineering Mentorship (TEM) program.

In September 2014, another milestone was reached in the history of the Society with the election and appointment of its first female president, Ms. Irma Moraal.

Acknowledgements:

Early history (1956 – 1992) documented by the late Stan Clarke, Honorary Secretary/Treasurer