'I want to see
EL harbour become
part of the
region's growth'
THE FIRST woman to hold the position of port operations manager in South Africa is firmly in the seat of command. Nosipho Damasane has held the reins on East London's harbour operations for the past six months, and is enjoying the full co-operation of her 500 staff members.
I have been meeting them all, and finding them totally co-operative, she says. But the first lady of harbour control is now eager to find out if, perhaps, she is the first of her gender to hold such a role anywhere in the world.
When I applied to the Port of Singapore Authority Institute to enter their port management course, they expressed amazement that a woman should be interested. They told me they had never heard of a female in that position, she says.
It was to a fortnight's conference in Singapore she was sent at the beginning of this year - 10 days after giving birth to her second daughter!
When I was approached about taking this job, there was some concern expressed that I was then five months pregnant. Not only were they offering the post to a woman, but a pregnant one at that. But I assured them it would have nothing to do with my working life. I am not one seeking months of pregnancy leave. In fact, after taking up my new post, I was away from office for little more than a week after the baby was born.
It was the type of strong-willed approach which brought her support from both hatbour workers and the leading business personalities in the city. The result was that she was also appointed the first woman on the executive of the Border Kei Chamber of Business.
So many people think you can't work with a small baby at home, but I felt what I was doing was crucial to the place of women in business, she says.
Born in the small town of Peddie, not far from East London, she matriculated at the local high school and then graduated with a B Com degree - which she later converted to a B. Compt degree - at the University of the Transkei. Now she is studying towards CTA, initially with Unisa and now with the University of Natal.
I worked originally in accountancy, completing articles with Ernst & Young in East London, and then working for several auditing firms, and there you learn that time is no object. You work all hours to get the job done.
Included in her studies were business management and commercial law, two factors which saw her taking up a position with CIMEC, the group responsible for promoting development initiatives in the Eastern Cape. There marketing, with specific interest in the export-import field became a major factor in her working life, and it was her adeptness in this sector that encouraged a group of employment consultants to approach her about taking up her present position.
I was about to leave the Eastern Cape and look elsewhere for a future when that happened, she says. That offer changed everything in my life. You know, when I was a small girl I would stand with my sister at the breakwater to East London harbour and argue that it was the water which was standing still, and the concrete structures that were actually moving.
Now I see that concrete as the true foundation of what the future holds for me here. I really want to see this harbour become busy and part of the growth of this part of the country.
By Leonard Neill
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
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