Moyo shows us how an Original Heidelberg printing press works
KYA SAND –Thulani's face lights up with excitement the second he turns on the machines.
Passion comes in all shapes and sizes but for Thulani Moyo, his joy comes from the rumble of two original Heidelberg printing presses.
Moyo is a 41-year-old resident in Kya Sand. He lives on a property behind the Pipeline Informal Settlement. “I worked for the original owner of the printing company since 2005, I worked with the machines and things were very different back then, we were busy with orders of all sorts for a long time.”
The company printed anything from business cards to invoice books. Original Heidelberg printing presses were used for the printing jobs. “The machine can only print two colours at a time so if there was a job with many colours, it had to be processed several times,” explained Moyo.
Due to technological developments in printing, the business was forced to close in 2014. Moyo laughed, “For one job, a customer could wait for two days sometimes. Now, a printing job can be done in the same time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.”
The owner of the business and property has since passed away and the area is being sold off.
Moyo does not get paid to maintain the historic machines and no orders have been coming in. So the question begs, as to why he spends his days preserving the Heidelbergs. “I stay on the property and it is my responsibility to see that the machines are still working well,” said Moyo.
But what is clear is that he gains far more from this act than being accountable for his responsibilities.
When it was time for Moyo to turn on the great machines, his face immediately lit up with sheer joy.
Slowly, he walked around it explaining in detail how each component works and how it helps to create the finished product.
“These machines are beautiful, I love how they require the human touch to create a good quality piece of printing.”
During the day Moyo spends his time teaching and mentoring the children of Kya Sand at the KyaKids community project. This project humbly tries to teach young children the basics of education through movement, play and one-one-one guided lessons.
“I love the children and I enjoy seeing them progress each day. I would like to get another job in a printing company because that is my passion,” added Moyo.
