Having led the National Sea Rescue Institute a merry dance for months over non-payment of grants – leading the organisation to suspect the sponsorship plug had been pulled – the National Ports Authority has finally pledged to honour its obligations. This after a frustrated NSRI chief executive, Ian Wienburg, complained in a news report he doubted whether there was anyone at Transnet head office to whom he had not spoken about the overdue money, also that faxes and e-mails had not elicited any response. Now the NPA, more dependent on the NSRI than almost any other major sponsor, will pay its overdue R100 000 grant for last year as well as the 2009 grant for a similar amount, due by April. “Transnet was quite upset with me over my media comments and is now at least returning my calls,” Wienburg told FTW last week. “It seems they are coming to the party again but there’s many a slip between cup and lip.” What puzzles Wienburg, though, is a request that the NSRI submit a new application for NPA sponsorship. “One really wonders why one has to do this; it’s almost like a school teacher applying to the principal for permission to go to class.” Sanjay Govan, port manager for Cape Town, says the sponsorship has “nothing to do” with the port of Cape Town. “The first I heard was when head office recently asked whether I had pledged the money. The sponsorship, I assume, was okayed by someone at head office and not followed through.”
