ELIAS MONAGE ELECTED SEIFSA PRESIDENT AHEAD OF A TOUGH AND CHALLENGING YEAR
JOHANNESBURG, 6 October 2023 – Industry veteran and industrialist Elias Monage was elected President of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday.
Executive Chair of Arabela Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Afrika Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Mr Monage assumes the Presidency of the Federation and the Chairmanship of its Board in a crucial year that will see wage negotiations taking place in the metals and engineering sector.
The AGM unanimously confirmed Elias Monage as SEIFSA President, while the Federation’s Vice-Presidents are Nonhlanhla Ngwenya, Managing Director at MphoNo Energies and Board Member at KSB Pumps & Valves (Pty) Ltd and Chief Executive Officer at Atlantis Foundries Pieter du Plessis.
Other Board members are Dynamic Fluid Control (Pty) Ltd Chief Executive Officer Tumi Tshelo, Frigoglass South Africa Human Resources Executive Ryan Haynes, Reinforcing Steel Contractors (Pty) Ltd Director Ernest Volschenk, South African Mint Company Managing Director Honey Mamabolo, Director and Chairman of various companies within and outside the M&E Industry Malcolm Mcculloch, Actom Group Chief Executive Officer Mervyn Naidoo and Invincible Valves (Pty) Ltd Chief Executive Officer Pam du Plessis.
SEIFSA President Elias Monage said the next coming period will be extremely challenging and will require robust leadership to tackle the policy, regulatory and socio-economic environment in order to position the Federation as the apex employer body in the metals and engineering industries.
In acknowledging the challenges currently confronting the South African economy in general and the metals and engineering sector in particular Monage stressed the need for all SEIFSA member Associations and other stakeholders to work together.
He emphasised that notwithstanding that these difficult conditions are likely to prevail for some time, given that there are no signs that the world market is rapidly moving out of its weakness, SEIFSA is ideally positioned to reposition the Federation to greater heights. He furthermore stressed the importance of sharpening the Federations agenda in order to remain relevant in the continent and globally.
While Monage recognised that little can be done to change the global economic headwinds, “the domestic ones — which are frankly own goals of bad policy choices and economic mismanagement — are in the hands of the policymakers. And this is where SEIFSA must continue to play the important role of keeping government accountable”.
SEIFSA Chief Executive Officer Lucio Trentini reiterated the sentiment shared by the AGM that in this Board, the Federation has a team with extensive and vast experience. “I am confident that as we steer the metals and engineering sector through the current crisis and move towards negotiations, this Board will provide the necessary guidance and use its considerable leadership experience to instil confidence.” Trentini said.
SEIFSA is a national federation representing 18 independent employer associations in the metal and engineering industries, with a combined membership of over 1 200 companies employing over 170 000 employees. The federation was formed in 1943 and its member companies range from giant steel-making corporations to micro-enterprises employing fewer than 50 people.