Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The Mazery Period (1989–1996)
Goodenough’s Dam was rebuilt in May 1993, by which time the
river flow had decreased to 60 cusecs�
On Youth Day (16 June), the commemoration of the 1976 Soweto
riots, a saboteur cut the plastic sheet on the Goodenough Dam wall,
destroying the dam� Grinakers rebuilt it in 10 days, as the earth was
just downstream of the wall�
At the end of June the river flow was 46 cusecs, by the end of July
39 cusecs, with dam levels falling, and 26 cusecs by the end of August,
when total storage remaining was 2,0 million m 3 � The storage dropped
to 1,5 million by the end of September�
The summer rains arrived in October and breached the walls at
Goodenough and the water intake� By December the water was
flowing over the spillway at Zamani (up to 10 000 cusecs), but when
the river flow reached 20 000 cusecs in February 1994 the wall was
breached� The Zamani area was restored to its former state and the
dam was never rebuilt�
Rebuilding of Goodenoughs started in May 1994, despite the
numerous demands of the local community�
One morning in May 1994, Ngcobo, a squatter on the north bank,
opened fire on Grinaker employees, who fled – abandoning their earthmoving
equipment in the middle of the river� Ngcobo maintained
Grinaker had no right to take his soil, but he readily accepted
R10 000 for a sales deal� When the local induna dutifully came to
claim his entitled share of the R10 000 and was informed Ngcobo
had the money, he went in search of Ngcobo, only to discover that
the payment had been made to the wrong Ngcobo� The situation
was resolved through tribal justice to the satisfaction of all except
the imposter!
Goodenoughs Dam was rebuilt by July 1994� The river flow
dropped to 30 cusecs by October, remaining at that level through
November and December� By December the water in the dam was
exhausted, and it became necessary to release water from Sappi
Forests’ dam at Comrie to keep Saiccor operating� Nic Mostert,
General Manager of Sappi Forests, was very happy, as he wanted to
remove all the bass in Comrie to be able to restock with trout� Good
rains in January brought the river flow to 16 000 cusecs, which again
breached the wall at Goodenoughs�
Goodenough’s Dam was again rebuilt in May 1995, by which time
negotiations with the demanding locals had become a nightmare for
Graham Kelly, who headed Saiccor’s team� Water from the dam was
used from October when the river flow reached 30 cusecs, but after
good summer rains in December the wall was breached�
It has not been necessary to rebuild Goodenoughs since 1995�
However, between 1992 and 1995 it seemed that Saiccor needed a
permanent dam� CBI made a proposal for a 5 million m 3 dam at Nic Mostert
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