SAPPMA hosted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, 27 October 2021. SAPPMA Chairman Terence Hobson welcomed the close to fifty members who were in attendance to the meeting, before handing the screen over to renowned economist Dawie Roodt for his presentation entitled "The South African economy in a nutshell: the legacy of the ANC".

As a specialist in Government finance and monetary policy, Dawie enjoys excellent relations with various role-players in the South African economic and financial environment. He participates actively in media coverage of economic and financial matters in daily and weekend newspapers, financial magazines as well as in electronic media, television programmes and radio stations.

Explaining to stakeholders the relevance of the country’s economy to the plastic pipe manufacturing industry, Dawie said: "Economics is about people. Understanding how it works and how it evolves, directly impacts us all”.

Looking at the South African economy over the past ten years, he demonstrated how the financial well-being of the country has deteriorated and how badly South Africa currently compares with the rest of the African continent when it comes to wealth creation, life expectancy and job creation.  Fortunately, not everything was doom and gloom, as Dawie also showed that there were areas with significant growth potential, such as agriculture, medicine and education.

"Artificial Intelligence, robots and digital skills will continue to grow in importance and are vital for any industry wishing to survive and thrive in future. There are opportunities for businesses who are willing to embrace this new way of doing things. Join pressure groups, be informed, identify risks and stand up as a united front against corruption, the mismanagement of resources and incompetence," Dawie implored.

SAPPMA’s past financial year in review

SAPPMA Chief Executive Officer Jan Venter reported that the past year was a difficult one for the Association and its members. Apart from the fact that COVID-19 forced everybody to adapt to new ways of doing things, ongoing polymer shortages, high raw material prices and tight gross margins contributed to added pressures.

"Despite these difficult trading conditions, our members continued to hang in there and managed to survive. We thank them for their loyal support over the past year and are pleased to announce that we have only lost one member owing to the company withdrawing its operations internationally," Venter reported.

Some of the most significant highlights for SAPPMA this past year included:

• Participating in the Plastics Chamber Report
• Completing and releasing the LHA Market Survey
• Being included in the DTI Water Industry Masterplan
• Forming a partnership with PPCA
• Ongoing cooperation between SAPPMA and Plastics SA
• Announcing SAPPMA Board of Directors for 2021

Eligible members were given an opportunity to vote for the board members they wanted to represent their interests on the SAPPMA Board of Directors. Rodger Petre of Continental Compounders was newly elected, while Don Coleman of Sizabantu Plastic Piping Systems and Terence Hobson of Sun Ace SA (Chairman) were re-elected. They will be joined by CP Bandaru (Flotek), Trevor Woolward (Pipetech), Lizl du Preez (PipeFlo) and Jan Venter (CEO).

Conclusion

“Another year is behind us and we are grateful for the opportunity to have served this extremely important industry. The uninterrupted supply of clean water and the removal of waste water from our homes is an indispensable part of ensuring the well-being of our society and public health. This is a responsibility and a privilege that we do not take lightly. Whilst a lot of good work was done in 2021, SAPPMA will continue in our efforts to maintain the highest possible standards when it comes to manufacturing plastic pipes and fittings,” Venter concluded.