A well known actor, playing the part of a middle aged novelist suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, steps out of his analyst's office into the reception area, looks at all the other patients waiting their turn, and asks them: "What if this is as good as it gets?"
As I look back over the year at all we have done, all the meetings we attended, the functions and events held at branch level and the huge amount of electronic mail generated between the Branches and Council, I tend to ask the same question. The Institute still manages to generate a massive amount of administration for such a relatively small number of members. Members are still flicking their chins at requests to pay their yearly subscriptions and the whole Institute is still being kept alive by only a handfull of passionate people.
On the positive side the Big Four branches; Johannesburg, Secunda, Durban and Cape Town are alive and well with regular branch meetings, site visits and social functions while at the same time the Rustenburg Branch is finally getting its act together with a new fervour and enthusiasm. The Vaal Triangle Sub-Branch, although very active, seems happy to remain a sub-branch, with no requests forthcoming from their committee to have them upgraded. Strange.
Even more positive was the very productive Council meeting that took place on 24 October this year. With all the input from the representatives of the branches around the country and their spoken commitment at the meeting, we will push our Institute to greater heights than ever before. Our annual banquet, with Barry Hilton as guest speaker went off extremely well and was well attended as usual.
Thus, as 2003 draws to a close we need to take stock of where we stand and where we are going with our Institute. There are many positive things about the SAIMC and its very long and illustrious past, but there is also the very real possibility of the Institute winding down if our members do not stand up and make a concerted effort to pay their subscriptions, today.
As we enter into the Festive Season, one cannot help but to think of the carnage that awaits South Africans on our roads. Hundreds will be killed or maimed, thousands will be injured and many will lose loved ones and/or friends and colleagues. In recent weeks during October/November, our news networks were filled with horror stories about accidents involving heavy-duty vehicles inflicting huge loss of life on the roads. These slow moving behemoths, mostly overloaded and poorly maintained, with half asleep drivers at the wheel, can cause damage on such a scale that it rivals even George W. and his arsenal of toys.
Fortunately help is at hand, or is it? The authorities have committed themselves to put 'a wall of steel' around our major centres, concentrating on speed violations and unroadworthy vehicles. Now my question is as follows: How will issuing a speed fine to a driver on his way to Durbs in a high tech, state of the art autobahn express, stop a 75 ton truck and trailer from driving over an overloaded, unroadworthy taxi on the M1 at Selby? I would bet my Twinkies that almost all of these accidents involving large trucks occurred at speeds lower than 80km/h.
Have a safe holiday, a blessed Christmas and may the New Year hold lots of promise.
Johan Steyn, President, [email protected]
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