The South African Institute of Foundrymen’s 56th Annual Awards Dinner was held at the Country Club Johannesburg Woodmead, Gauteng.
This year’s event saw 200 foundrymen, guests, wives and award winners attend. The dinner was well supported by sponsors in the form of prizes for the award winners, ticket sponsors for the award winners and VIP guests invited by the Institute.
The SAIF would like to thank the following sponsors for their valuable contributions to help make the evening a success. These included the guest gifts and tickets for the award winners: Auto Industrial Group, 3AK Chemie, Cronimet, Durrans RMS Group, DZanetech, Elite Refractory Solutions, Endeco Omega Sinto, Foseco South Africa, Grinding Techniques, Insimbi Alloy Supplies, Lauds Projects & Procurement, Pentagon Resources, Thos Begbie and Viking Foundry.
Awards handed out on the evening were as follows:
AH Guy Award – for outstanding service to the foundry industry was presented to Nigel Pardoe, the outgoing Chairman of the SAIF Board.
Lauds Foundry Equipment Technical Award (formerly known as the Colin Butler Award) – for the best technical presentation presented during 2024 by a SAIF Member was awarded to Wessel Watt from Watt Industries for his presentation ‘Energy Efficiency for the South African Foundry Industry’.
Insimbi Refractory and Alloy Supplies Student Award – for the highest marks achieved by a 1st year metallurgy student for 2024 was presented to Velile Sindiswa Phakathi from Tshwane University of Technology.
Foseco Student Award – for the highest marks achieved by a final year Metallurgy Student for 2018 went to Lungile Mbali Tsabadze from University of Johannesburg.
Below are a selection of members and guests that attended. All pictures are supplied.
Megan and Christopher Robins, Richard Stevens, Mynhardt van Dijk, JP Du Plessis, Selby Churruco, Justus van Rensburg and Winston Nxumalo
Stefan Pfeffer, Koos Prinsloo, Ryno van Rooyen, Charl Coetzer, Armandt Jacobs, Jeremiah Sebei, Wesley Lottering and Clifford van Eeden
The DZanetech group: Gugu Sekgwele, Ayheisha Cannell, Owen Cannell, Zaid Syed, Gabriel Sekgwele, Mahmooda Hendricks, Gershwin Hendricks, Emmanuel Phiri and Tshepo Mhlane
The Endeco Omega Sinto group: Richard Mabonga, Douglas Mafuta, Rui Dias, Victor Dias, Antonio Da Costa and Dumisani Tutani
The Foseco South Africa group: Anthony Kaunda, Stephan Coomans, Craig Suluma, Ernest Suluma, John Van Der Merwe, Tshiswaka Mutombo, Steven Groenewald and Lungile Koti
The Grinding Techniques table: Kevin Hodgkinson, Deon Truter, Lana Grobbelaar, Nicolene Breitenbach, Jacques du Plooy, Stephan Claassen, Sven Breedt, Lourens Grobler, Raymond Hutton and Edwin Williams
Carmen and Wessel Watt
Nigel and Trudie Pardoe
The Pentagon Resources table: Adam Levin, Ariel van Flymen, Daniel Kobrin, Cobus van Aswegen, Jennifer Höll, Sizwe Mothusi, Daniel Mohasoane, Landi Nel and Anrich Nel
The Insimbi Group staff members
The Viking Foundry table: Greg Estman, Bronelda and Koena Maphelela, Elijah and Nonhlanhla Makhubo
