Day: February 18, 2018

Johannesburg, 19 February 2018 – There is no doubt that innovation has an enormous role to play in economic development. Not only does it contribute towards producing goods and services more efficiently, but it also contributes towards employment creation and poverty reduction.

Unlike its emerging-market counterparts, South Africa lags behind when it comes to innovative economic growth. That is why there is an urgent need to harness South Africa’s untapped potential for innovation and ultimately create the desperately-needed employment opportunities for South Africa’s unemployed millions.

“It is for this reason, among others, that the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) established the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence to encourage innovation and growth and to celebrate excellence in the metals and engineering sector,” SEIFSA Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba said today.

“In such volatile economic times and a challenging business environment, we at SEIFSA believe that companies operating in the manufacturing sector in general and the metals and engineering sector in particular should invest in innovative technological advancements if they are to compete successfully with international players.

We also believe that it is of critical importance that companies that excel at what they do get the acknowledgement and recognition they deserve. This is another reason we established the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence,” Mr Nyatsumba said.

SEIFSA Awards entrants will be assessed on their performance in the period January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 in seven different categories, namely:

• The Most Innovative Company of the Year, which will be awarded to a company that showed the best level of innovation in research and development or production in 2017;
• The Health and Safety Award of the Year will be offered to a company with the best legal compliance record in Health and Safety or the lowest Lost-Time Injury Frequency rate in 2017;
• Entries are also invited from companies whose Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programme/s in 2017 had a major impact on the lives of their beneficiaries;
• The company rated the highest in customer service performance in 2017 will receive the Customer Service Award of the Year;
• The Most Transformed Company of the Year Award will be received by a company that showed the highest transformation level in the composition of its Board of Directors, Executive Management and Managerial Team in 2017 (this award category pits companies employing fewer than 100 people against those of similar size, and companies employing more than 100 companies against others of similar size);
• This is the Decade of the Artisan, and an award will be made to the company that trained the highest number of artisans in 2017;
• The Environment Stewardship Award will go to a company that has successfully implemented greening initiatives in its day-to-day business operations in 2017.

Mr Nyatsumba encouraged manufacturers operating in the metals and engineering sector to submit their entries for the seven categories before the deadline date of 29 March 2019. Participants can enter by visiting the SEIFSA awards website (awards.seifsa.co.za).

Winners of the Awards will be honoured at a ceremony that will take place at the IDC Conference Centre in Sandton on 24 May 2018.

Issued by:
Ollie Madlala
Communications Consultant
Tel: (011) 298 9411 / 082 602 1725
Email: ollie@seifsa.co.za
Web: www.seifsa.co.za

SEIFSA is a National Federation representing 23 independent employers. Associations in the metals and engineering industries, with a combined membership of 1600 companies employing around 200 000 employees. The Federation was formed in 1943 and its member companies range from giant steel-making corporations to formed in 1943 and its member companies range from giant steel-making corporations to microenterprises employing few than 50 people.

JOHANNESBURG, 17 FEBRUARY 2018 – President Cyril Ramaphosa’s inaugural State-of-the-National Address last night was a clear indication that South Africa is on the verge of turning the corner and re-embracing the values that made the country internationally respected under the leadership of former president Nelson Mandela, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba said today.

He said the Federation welcomed not only the inspirational, inclusive leadership demonstrated by President Ramaphosa during his speech last night, but especially the fact that he had sent a very clear message that he would do everything possible to reduce the size of our bloated Cabinet, vigorously fight the scourge of corruption and work with all stakeholders to grow the country’s economy.Mr Nyatsumba expressed the hope that President Ramaphosa would mobilise his colleagues within both the Government and the African National Congress to ensure that the impressive commitments that he outlined in Parliament on Friday evening were delivered upon expeditiously.

“When former president Jacob Zuma announced his Cabinet after the 2014 general elections, SEIFSA was the first to raise serious concerns about the bloated size of his Cabinet. While our concern at the time was the fact that Zuma’s Cabinet was one of the largest in the world, we subsequently came to know that a significant percentage of those appointed Ministers and Deputy Ministers then were pliable individuals whose competence and integrity was seriously questionable.

“We welcome President Ramaphosa’s commitments to reduce the size of his Cabinet, to fight corruption fearlessly, to appoint men and women of integrity into key positions in the public sector and, more importantly, to work in partnership with business and labour to revive manufacturing and to grow the economy,” Mr Nyatsumba said.

He added that, during his speech, President Ramaphosa had demonstrated inspirational, unifying leadership of the kind that South Africa has sorely lacked over the past few years.

“After years of increasingly being an international laughing stock, once again it felt good to be a South African on Friday evening,” said Mr Nyatsumba. He urged President Ramaphosa and his Cabinet to spare no effort in their work to reposition South Africa in the international community from yet another typical African country to a desirable, well-led, corruption-free country that would be an attractive investment destination.

Mr Nyatsumba said SEIFSA looked forward to working with the Ramaphosa government to change the fortunes of both the metals and engineering sector in particular and manufacturing in general.

Issued by:
Ollie Madlala
Communications Consultant
Tel: (011) 298 9411 / 082 602 1725
Email: ollie@seifsa.co.za
Web: www.seifsa.co.za

SEIFSA is a National Federation representing 23 independent employers. Associations in the metals and engineering industries, with a combined membership of 1600 companies employing around 200 000 employees. The Federation was formed in 1943 and its member companies range from giant steel-making corporations to formed in 1943 and its member companies range from giant steel-making corporations to micro-enterprises employing few than 50 people.