New harbour masters take up their posts

LEONARD NEILL BOTH CAPE Town and East London will have new harbour masters at the end of this month. The pair were together in East London recently where Rufus Lekala bade farewell to the port he has served for the past two years, before moving to the Mother City on promotion. At a farewell ceremony hosted by East London National Ports Authority (NPA) general manager Thami Ntshingila, he handed over the ‘keys to his office’ to newcomer Dennis Mqadi. Mqadi had ambitions of becoming a chemical engineer, but abandoned university studies because of financial difficulties. Determined to make the grade, he joined the navy to save enough funds to continue his studies - but, instead, fell in love with the sea. “I thoroughly enjoyed working in harbours,” he says. “After eight years at it I became a navigator and then applied to become an NPA tug master in 1998. I enjoyed that so much that I went to Rotterdam to study to become a pilot and returned to Durban in that position.” It was while working as a tug master in Durban’s busy harbour that NPA realised his capabilities, and offered him the East London harbour master post. He will oversee the overall maritime-related operations in the port, including docking of ships, and ensure full compliance with international maritime regulations.