FEM: Making a Difference

FEM: Making a Difference

“You come back one day and you make a difference.” Nelson Mandela to Francois Pienaar.

The Federated Employer’s Mutual Assurance Company (RF) (Pty) Limited (FEM) staged its annual Health and Safety awards dinner at which the company recognises policy-holding companies in the building and construction industry who have achieved outstanding Health and Safety records.

The event, held in Johannesburg on 3 November 2017, was attended by achieving companies, a host of specialists in the Health and Safety field, captains of the construction industry, economists and members of the FEM Board.

FEM’s IT Director Gys McIntosh, explained the awards criteria, saying that FEM recognises policyholders that achieve excellence in health and safety. To receive these awards, policyholders must meet or exceed very stringent criteria as set out by the Company. In addition to their normal merit rebate payment, policyholders also receive an additional rebate.

Special awards in Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum are also made to those companies with exceptionally low claims over a 10 year period. This year the Platinum Award in this category was awarded to Atcom Contracting, a Division of Atcom (Pty) Ltd., for their outstanding safety record for the period.

Winner in the High Risk High Employer category was Civil & Power Generation.

In her address to Award winners and guests Ndivhuwo Manyonga, Managing Director, Federated Employers Mutual Assurance Company congratulated all winners for their special achievements, saying: “Health and safety is an investment – not a cost – and needs to be integral to the culture of an organisation. At FEM we will continue to lead the way by doing innovative things to enable organisations to achieve zero harm on their constructions sites, and thereby across the construction industry spectrum. Your achievements in this are indeed very significant and are testimony to the high priority placed on Health and Safety in your organisations.”

In welcoming keynote speaker, former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, founder of the Make A Difference Leadership Foundation (MAD), Manyonga noted with great pride the success of the R750 million FEM Education Foundation established in 2016, which, in partnership with the Make A Difference Leadership Foundation, enabled the awarding of scholarships to 28 promising students.

“The FEM Education Foundation was formed by FEM policy-holders in an effort to contribute to the education system, with a core focus on generating additional skills in the building industry,” said Manyonga. “The initial sponsorship amounted to an estimated R41 million and in 2017, FEM announced a further commitment to fund 40 additional scholarships in 2018 through the MAD Leadership Foundation.”

Taking the podium, the ever-humble and greatly respected Francois Pienaar spoke of his special relationship with Nelson Mandela who, over a period of years, imprinted a range of core ideals on him, resulting in the formation of the Make A Difference Leadership Foundation.

“My Captain,” Madiba said to me, “you go off and play rugby overseas, but you come back and you make a difference.”

“This,” said Pienaar, “is exactly what I did,” referring to his founding of the Make A Difference Leadership Foundation in 2003.

“Our mission at Make a Difference is to provide academically talented

scholars with exceptional leadership development opportunities through education” – Francois Pienaar

In his address, scholarship student Celcio Moloi described himself as “an agent of change,” who is ever-grateful to the FEM-MAD Scholarship Programme for the opportunity created for him to excel.

“They have become my family,” said Moloi, “enabling me in turn to make a difference to the lives of others.”

CRITERIA – FEM Education Scholarships

FEM Education Scholarships are awarded to selected high school learners and university entrants in need of financial support.

Preference is given to current grade 6-12 applicants who have a parent employed by an FEM policyholder (i.e. the children of policy-holders’ employees).

The basic qualification criteria for the scholarship include:

• Current Grade 7 to Grade 12 learner;

• Academic performance > 65% aggregate;

• Must be a South African citizen who speaks and understands basic English; and

• Is in need of financial support: gross combined income per household per month should not exceed R20 000.

Make A Difference Leadership Foundation

The Make A Difference Leadership Foundation Foundation was formed in 2003 by Francois Pienaar. With a focus on leadership development through education, their approach is to identify academically talented scholars with leadership potential, who do not have the necessary financial resources, and offer them support in the areas of education, leadership, wellness and life-skills development. MAD Leadership Foundation holistically invests in the scholars’ academic, wellness, life-skills, mentorship and leadership journeys, ensuring that through the 9+ years on the programme they are given every opportunity to reach their full potential as South Africa’s future leaders.

Photos: Natalie Field Photography

All the winners:

Special Awards

Position	NAME
Platinum	Actom Contracting – a Division of Actom (PTY) Ltd
Gold	Azcon Projects CC
Silver	Waco Africa (Pty) Ltd – SGB Cape Division (Vaal)
Bronze	Cladcon CC

Category winners

Place	Category	Winner
1st	Category – High Risk Small Employer	Waco Africa (Pty) Ltd – SGB Cape Division (Richards Bay)
2nd	Category – High Risk Small Employer	Pezula Access Scaffolding (Pty) Ltd
3rd	Category – High Risk Small Employer	Viva Access Scaffolding (Pty) Ltd
1st	Category – High Risk Medium Employer	MEI Construction and Services CC
2nd	Category – High Risk Medium Employer	Construction Maintenance Services (Pty) Ltd
3rd	Category – High Risk Medium Employer	Tubular Technical Construction (Pty) Ltd
1st	Category – High Risk Large Employer	Civil and Power Generation Projects (Pty) Ltd
2nd	Category – High Risk Large Employer	Murray & Roberts Power & Energy, a Division of Murray & Roberts Limited
3rd	Category – High Risk Large Employer	SGB Cape – Power Region – a Division of Waco Africa (Pty) Ltd
1st	Category – Medium Risk Small Employer	Vlaming (Pty) Ltd
2nd	Category – Medium Risk Small Employer	Robenco Building (Pty) Ltd
3rd	Category – Medium Risk Small Employer	Stefanutti Stocks (Pty) Ltd T/A Stefanutti Corporate Services
1st	Category – Medium Risk Medium Employer	ORO Management Services (Pty) Ltd
2nd	Category – Medium Risk Medium Employer	AMT Labour Solutions (Pty) Ltd
3rd	Category – Medium Risk Medium Employer	South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited
1st	Category – Medium Risk Large Employer	MDS NDT Consultants (Pty) Ltd
2nd	Category – Medium Risk Large Employer	Actom Contracting – a Division of Actom (Pty) Ltd
3rd	Category – Medium Risk Large Employer	Reder Construction CC
1st	Category – Low Risk Small Employer	Tibara Construction CC T/A Tibara Plumbing
2nd	Category – Low Risk Small Employer	TP Fencing (Pty) Ltd
3rd	Category – Low Risk Small Employer	AEIM Air And Electrical Services Cc
1st	Category – Low Risk Medium Employer	Amanzi Abantu (Pty) Ltd
2nd	Category – Low Risk Medium Employer	Proxa (Pty) Ltd
3rd	Category – Low Risk Medium Employer	Brencon Hire Cc T/A Brencon Plumbing