Minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Society of Master Mariners South Africa, held at the offices of BMC Africa (Pty) Ltd, 1 Argo Road, Ottery, Cape Town at 12h00 on Thursday 1st September 2016.
1. Opening. The President welcomed all to the first meeting following the AGM on 19 August.
2. Present: Rob Whitehead; Lloyd Merriman; Keith Burchell; Tony Nicholas; Dennis Henwood; Charles Kingon.
3. Apologies : NIL received
4. Minutes of the previous meeting:
4.1. Confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting on 31-03-2016: Proposed by Keith Burchell and seconded by Tony Nicholas.
4.2. Matters arising from the last minutes. : NIL
5. Financial matters:
5.1. Central Fund account balances:
5.1.1. Current Account: R542.87
5.1.2. Call Account: R67 379.97
(This amount includes R32700.00 due to the NSRI as part of the Legacy Wine project)
5.2. Income: approximately R40000.00 in outstanding subs still due.
5.3. Expenditure: The meeting approved that the President purchase a suitable R1000.00 gift voucher to present to Mrs Visser for her catering assistance at the Lawhill Maritime Centre.
6. Social Media
6.1. Website: The President reported that the new website is running well with all members being notified per email within 24 hours of his posting any new information to it.
6.2. Facebook: Following the AGM, Hugo Schuitemaker has taken the Administrator mantle. Presently there are 319 ‘likes’ of the page.
6.3. Skype: Discussion followed on the feasibility of holding Exco meetings over Skype. Then the other branches and Port Reps can participate in the meeting. Requirements would be a reasonable broadband data connection for each individual and group participating. Groups would also need a reasonable camera and microphone connection for the PC. Individuals could connect over their smartphones. It was believed that there would be no Skype charges for the conference call. LM advised he had a friend in the IT business who could advise on the microphone/camera requirement. No firm decision was taken for a future meeting, all Exco members are asked to consider their own ability to connect, should we go ahead.
7. Membership:
7.1. Marketing of the Society:
7.1.1. Presentation to students: It was the intention for the President and CK to arrange a presentation session for the current crop of students at CPUT.
7.1.2. Brochure. The President had a single copy of his proposed brochure. He would be circulating it to Exco for comment before mass printing. LM took the sample to source a suitably branded perspex display holder to be able to leave them on display at eg SAMSA offices, CPUT, DUT, etc.
7.2. New applications for approval. Anne Myers was approved last month, it was hoped she would be at the next CPT branch meeting.
8. Branch Matters
8.1. Cape Town Branch: next meeting on Tuesday 6th September.
8.2. Port Elizabeth Branch. NTR
8.3. Richards Bay Branch. NTR
8.4. Durban Port Representative: Following the request made at the AGM, in terms of the Constitution, this EXCO meeting agreed to the appointment of Hugo Schuitemaker as the Durban Port Representative. The Durban Branch is therefore dormant and the meeting hoped that interest would be revived in the future and the branch could be re-instated.
8.5. Saldanha Port Representative. NTR
8.6. Mossel Bay Port Representative. NTR
9. Benevolent Fund report: The Board’s AGM was held on 26 August 2016. The 2015/2016 audited accounts were confirmed. There have been no new calls for assistance, ongoing support to Nicole Stohr was agreed for a further year. The President had circulated a suitable ‘thank you’ letter to the membership for their generous donations. This elicited some more donations from members who had forgotten/missed the first appeal.
10. Bursary Fund report: The Board’s AGM was held on 26 August. The following was resolved:
10.1. Formal approval of the incorporation of the fund into the GBOBA BF. All funds to be transferred and the Bursary Fund account to be closed by latest 28 February 2017.
10.2. A draft MOU was prepared for signature by the two Chairmen, once the wording had been agreed.
10.3. Colin Flockhart and Charles Kingon had agreed to be SOMMSA representatives on the GBOBA BF committee(s).
11. National AGM:
11.1. Matters for follow up:
11.1.1. CEO of SAIMI to make a presentation: RW to email the CEO again to follow up on him giving a presentation to SOMMSA, possibly in conjunction with SAIMENA.
11.1.2. Letter of thanks to Charles Lange: RW to prepare a suitable letter for Charles Lange.
11.1.3. Honorary membership to MLA, SAMSA, SAIMENA, SAIMI, ICS etc:
RW to contact the Chairpersons/CEOs extending Honorary membership to them. Including SASOA.
11.1.4. Society medal for Seamanship: Discussion was made regards preparing a suitable medal and/or citation for presentation to candidates on an ad-hoc basis. A title of ‘Nautical Excellence’ was considered as it was felt this could apply for a bravery award or a deserving candidate who had made an outstanding contribution to the industry. No decision taken, but all Exco members asked to consider the proposal and make any inputs they may have.
12. Liaison with other Organisations:
12.1. NSRI: KB and LM to meet with NSRI to discuss a suitable date for presentation of the total funds raised from the Legacy Wine project. The December Christmas lunch function was mooted a possible date. Possibly the Station Commander from Lamberts Bay could be present as well. Ideally L.Tiedt and K. Moran too as they were the driving force to get the Lamberts Bay station established.
12.2. Mission to Seafarers: Waiting for a new Padre to be appointed. Once done then we need to request a meeting to establish the latest developments regards the rental they are having to pay and whether a suitable letter should be drafted to Transnet Management or not. Possibly a meeting with the Missions Board Chairman could be arranged.
12.3. SAMSA/DOT. RW to ask AM who in DoT should be approached to establish ties between DoT and SOMMSA.
12.4. IFSMA: Agreed that the President would apply for personal membership, at SOMMSA cost, to maintain the link with IFSMA and to be in the loop of IFSMA business to feed back to SOMMSA.
13. Education and Training:
13.1. SOMMSA Maritime E & T policy document. Following the AGM, the amendments were made to the document. A copy has been passed to Andy MacLennan to take to Operation Phakisa. Agreed too that the policy doc be circulated to SAIMI and SAIMENA.
13.2. SAMTRA. NTR.
13.3. Lawhill Maritime School : Noted that the Prizegiving was planned for 13 October. The meeting approved for RW to purchase the book prize.
13.4. CPUT : awaiting minutes of latest advisory meeting. Noted that it was not always convenient for Lance Tiedt to attend the meetings. Alternates were considered. Possibly Anne Myers could be approached to attend.
13.5. DUT : Awaiting Hugo Schuitemaker’s follow up on a suitable representative to nominate to the DUT advisory committee.
13.6. Saldanha Military Academy: Contact has been lost with the Academy and the annual Navigation prize that SOMMSA used to award.
14. Mentorship program: Allen Brink has taken suitable dates in March 2017 to The Nautical Institute for a Command Seminar on Mentorship. Feedback awaited.
15. IFSMA matters: SOMMSA Membership was cancelled earlier this year, still awaiting formal acceptance from IFSMA secretariat, only the receipt of our letter was acknowledged.
16. Correspondence. NTR
17. Other Business: NIL
18. Next Meeting : There was general discussion regarding formal meetings in future. Agreed to continue with email circulation as required. As per resolution 1 /2015. A quarterly formal minute to be circulated minuting the finances and other business details for record purposes. Physical meetings to be held as, and when, required.
…………………………………………… ……………………………………………
President National Secretary
Page 2