History made as
SEIFSA elects its first
woman president
F
or the very first time in what was then its 72-year history, the Steel
and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA)
elected a woman as its President and Chairperson of its Board of
Directors.
Transman founder and Chief Executive Officer Ms Angela Dick made
history when she was elected President of SEIFSA at the Federation’s
Annual General Meeting held in Johannesburg on Friday, 9 October
2015. She replaced the then Scaw Metals Group Executive Chairman Mr
Ufikile Khumalo, who was at the helm of the SEIFSA Board for two years.
Commenting on her appointment at the time, the deeply appreciative
Ms Dick – also the Vice President of the Confederation of Associations
in the Private Employment Sector, a Director of Business Unity South
Africa and for seven years Chairperson of its Trade Policy Committee –
said: “I am truly humbled that a giant such as SEIFSA would consider and
ultimately appoint me to this important position. It is a task that I accept
and will embrace wholeheartedly.”
Ms Dick said the appointment was news to her despite the fact that she
was aware that she had been nominated for the position.
“I’m still in shock. But I feel honoured. It’s a huge responsibility, this
industry is so critical to the well-being of this country. Without it, how
would we build the much-needed infrastructure? How would we create
jobs?” she asked rhetorically.
Ms Dick took the reigns at a time when the industry was in decline.
According to statistics, the metals and engineering (M&E) sector
represented 34% of manufacturing activity and contributed 6% to the
country’s gross domestic product in 2014 and added R123 billion of
value to the economy.
But after growing by 2% in 2013, it contracted by the same proportion in
2014, and was not expected to show any growth during 2015. In October
that year, Statistics South Africa released production data for the M&E
sector revealing a 1.1% contraction in the 12 months ended July 2015. In
isolation, the decline was marginal, but given the low base effect of the
five-month-long platinum sector strike, which was followed by a month-
long steel and engineering strike in July 2014, this was a telling statistic.
The market for the M&E sector was largely made up of intermediate
product suppliers to the mining (10%), construction (10%), machinery
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Angela Dick
SEIFSA President (2015-2016)
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