MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIRMAN

Ibelieve 2020 is now called “the year of the pandemic”. It has been a difficult year across the world and has been no less challenging in South Africa. Notwithstanding this obvious truth, it is no surprise to me that in the face of the COVID-19 crisis and all the complex dynamics and economic threats it brings, the volunteers, donors and staff of the NSRI have risen to the challenge and delivered services beyond expectation, in the selfless tradition of the organisation. I am humbled. Successfully dealing with the environment of constant change in South Africa is tough enough, but then having to deal with a pandemic as well, would compromise many businesses, as it has. Yet, Sea Rescue has been able to deliver on its mandate, despite the threat of COVID-19. It is truly commendable under the circumstances that Sea Rescue has continued to operate, and in many respects met greater demands, particularly from the shipping industry, than would have been expected.

Delivering on objectives depends on getting the fundamentals right, proper strategy and planning and diligent implementation. I think competent leadership in a crisis is key to ‘keeping heads’ while all around are losing theirs and I must commend our leaders from the CEO and executives to the individual Station Commanders, who, despite a completely unprecedented crisis, kept a level temperament, responded, adapted, innovated and wrestled their way to the success this year has been. You have my respect. 2020 presented a very precarious economic environment which we have weathered in the short-term, but we must remain cautious as the medium- to long-term impacts of this pandemic play out in both the global and local economies. It may well take us years to recover, and we may need to temper our projections and ambitions. Hard choices lie ahead. Demand for services will increase within a restrained capacity and we will have to work smarter.

If I reflect on COVID-19 and the health crisis currently, I observe that the response from experts around the world mirrors our strategic focus of balancing preventative and responsive services, and I am convinced that our preventative focus is the right approach. We must mitigate the loss of life from drowning in South Africa and, in addition to our outstanding rescue services which saved 835 lives this year, we must advocate, educate and skill our communities to prevent drowning as a priority.

The Board has had a full year of ‘virtual reality’ having to conduct most meetings through MS Teams. This was only possible because of the solid foundations of relevant information and communication technology that had been implemented within the NSRI in recent years.

Radha Govender has served a full year as a director under ‘virtual’ circumstances, which for her must have been an interesting challenge, not meeting colleagues face to face! Uviwe Mzilikazi joined us in January 2021 to take over as Corporate Services Executive and we are sad to say farewell to Mark Koning, a treasured stalwart with 20 years’ service. Ivor Sindler has indicated an intention to retire from the Audit Committee after his long service as Committee Chair and we will be seeking a similarly capable replacement in 2021. The Operations Support Committee has created a sub-committee to deal with crew wellness and the medical aspects of operations. The Awards Committee has been strengthened by new and diverse members.

I offer my thanks to my colleagues on the Board, the executive team, staff, volunteers and our stakeholder community for enduring the extreme changes we have had to make and for staying with the business at hand.

Given the circumstances, a very successful year.

Ronnie Stein Chairman, National Sea Rescue Institute