Sembcorp still in full flow after 15 years’ service

MBOMBELA – The water supply in South Africa is decreasing while the demand is increasing. This was according to Mr John Shongwe, chairman of the board of Sembcorp Silulumanzi at the company’s 15th anniversary celebrations. However, Sembcorp would ensure that the city would not be left dry.

“We are lucky that we still have water to talk about,” said Shongwe, “and Mbombela can pride itself in knowing it has a very reliable water supply.”

More than 200 employees and guests gathered at Emnotweni Arena last Friday to commemorate the South African water supplier. Spokesman for Mbombela Municipality, Mr Joseph Ngala, was the programme director of the evening and various stakeholders in the company had a chance to thank all 260 employees for helping to build the company, as well as to discuss future plans.

Mbombela’s water supply has been the topic of many discussions in the past few months. “We have a university underway and I know many people are asking if our infrastructure can support

20 000 students,” said Shongwe. However, he added that Sembcorp was confident that the drastic population increase would not affect the trustworthiness of the city’s water supply.

Mr Marius van Aardt, managing director of Sembcorp Silulumanzi, expressed his confidence in the company. “Our main task is service delivery. We walk the talk. We make mistakes, but we learn from them and we ensure that Mbombela always has clean, reliable water.”

Except for clean water, poverty alleviation is another top priority for Sembcorp. “People become economically active when they are not spending their days looking for water,” said Van Aardt. “If there is no water in a city, tourism will decline.”

In the past 15 years, Sembcorp’s staff grew from 160 employees to 260. “Although we want to participate in job creation, we want to focus on skills development of our current people instead of getting new staff from the outside.”

During the course of the evening, employees were awarded for excellent service. More than

30 prizes were handed to those who had been working for Sembcorp Silulumanzi for 15 years, 10 and five years respectively.

Sembcorp Silulumanzi plans to cooperate with the University of Mpumalanga, which opens its doors next year. “We want to be a practical partner to the technical students of the university,” said Van Aardt. So far, no plans for the partnership have been finalised, but there are talks between Van Aardt and Shongwe, an academic director of the university.