Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The Cantacuzene Period (1952–1965)
transferred to the workshop, and in 1961 to Pulp
Preparation, where he was promoted to Chargehand,
then Assistant Engineer and finally Divisional Engineer
of digesters� He retired in 1997 and died the same year�
Bepi was thoroughly competent, hardworking and
dedicated� For his innovation of bypassing No 4 silo he
was awarded the Sappi EAA Gold Award in 1992�
Alison Mthuli worked in the company garage and then
transferred to the mechanical workshops, where he is
remembered as being very quiet with a permanent smile
on his face�
Armando Zerman and Carletto Scarpa were two
highly talented young cabinetmakers who arrived at
Saiccor in 1954 and developed their skills under master
craftsman Luigi Soldat� Armando was promoted to
Chargehand and finally to Engineering Assistant� He
retired in 1994 and died in early 2001� Although he often
behaved like a prima donna, his work was superlative –
good examples being Sappi’s executive suite at Kings Park The author, with Zerman’s model of the Saiccor factory
(prior to 2000, when it was refurbished), done with
Carletto Scarpa; his model of the Saiccor factory, achieved almost
single-handed (with some coaxing); and the desk in the magnesium
control room� Luigi Soldat sadly died young in 1970, but both his
sons, Giorgio and Giordano (Sack), became Saiccor employees, the
latter for the past 35 years�
The town of Umkomaas changed dramatically on 23 April 1954� The
proposed £7,5 million rayon factory in Umkomaas had sparked heated
debate since 8 January 1952, when the Marquis Fracassi di Torre
Rossano, Minister Plenipotentiary for Italy, announced while on
holiday in Durban that 700 Italians would be coming out to build it�
(The Italian government was hoping for this number�)
An article from the Natal Mercury on 11 January 1952 gives some
indication of the level of controversy surrounding the proposed influx
of Italians:
Umkomaas Speaks Mind on
Factory
The building of a £7,500,000 rayon
factory at Umkomaas might change
its character from a little piece of
‘English Suburbia’ to that of a
cosmopolitan South African
industrial town�
When the slightly bewildered
ENGLISH SUBURBIA OR LITTLE ITALY?
Umkomaas people got over the
initial shock of the 600 Italians
coming to the township, their
opinions fell into two clearly
defined channels�
People with business interests were
in favour of the idea of Umkomaas
‘waking up at last,’ but the
majority of the residents, compri-
15
sing mostly English people who
have retired, hope that Umkomaas
will ‘sleep on’�
One elderly retired resident who has
been in Umkomaas for the past 20
years declared: ‘I am definitely not in
favour of being turned into an
industrial town and I am strongly
opposed to foreigners�’