Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The Mackenzie Period (1987–1989)
1989 marked 35 years service for those who came to Umkomaas in 1954 to build Saiccor, a proud moment for those
men who were now no longer young
In view of this pending anniversary, Hector Mackenzie’s notice of
1 December 1988 appeared bizarre (remembering also that most of
Natal regarded 2 January as a public holiday)�
At the last meeting of the old Saiccor Board on Wednesday August
10th 1988, prior to ownership passing to Sappi, the then Chairman,
Mr P J van Rooy proposed, and it was unanimously approved by the
directors representing the Courtaulds Group and the Industrial
Development Corporation of South Africa, that when a suitable
opportunity arose their appreciation should be expressed in some
tangible way to all employees for all they had done to contribute to
the success of Saiccor�
As a small token of appreciation it has been decided that New Year’s
day which falls on a Sunday, and would not normally be enjoyed as
a public holiday, will be transferred on this occasion to Monday 2nd
January 1989, which will therefore be treated as a paid holiday�
As this was the only ‘token’ of appreciation for 35 years of success,
the notice went down like a lead balloon�
The 11-month financial year ended successfully on 28 February
1989 (Sappi’s year end)� Production improved to average 1 086,4 t/d
(95 per cent of budget) and firmer pulp prices resulted in operating
income rising to R212 million (US$90 million)� Fifty per cent of sales
were to Courtaulds�
In October 1988 there was a Courtaulds-Saiccor research meeting
at Saiccor at which André Vlok, Sappi’s Technical Director, facilitated�
The meeting initiated a disagreement between Hector Mackenzie
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