From taxi driver in Limpopo to Chief Harbour Master

POLOKWANE – In celebrating its 20^th year of existence, Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) is honouring the strides made since its first group of marine trainees of colour, including females, began their maritime careers two decades ago.

Among those celebrated was Limpopo-born, Captain Rufus Lekala, TNPA’s Chief Harbour Master and current Acting Chief Operating Officer.

Captain Lekala has been a key figure in TNPA’s maritime transformation journey. His personal journey took him from being a taxi driver in Limpopo at the age of 24 in 1995, right through the ranks to become South Africa’s first Black Chief Harbour Master and the youngest in the world. From this position, he accelerated the pace of change.

“One of my biggest motivators was I didn’t want to go back to where I came from. People get dethroned by power and fame. I say rewind, reflect on where you have come from. Reflection helps me stay on course,” he said.

Captain Lekala’s parents were determined that he get the best high school education and sent him to Pretoria at the age of 15 to live with his uncle until he matriculated in 1991. Opportunities were scarce and Captain Lekala first drove taxis to make a living, which proved to be a great training ground for developing his people skills. He was searching for better opportunities when he saw a Portnet advert in the paper, offering bursaries for cadetships for candidates, between the ages of 18 and 21 years, with matric maths and science.

“I was 24-years-old, but I put my application in anyway and was called for an interview in Cape Town. It went very well and Captain Jones told me I wasn’t going home, but would be going to a navy camp from September to December 1995. When our group finished the camp, we were sent home again and told, ‘Don’t call us. We’ll call you.’ I went back to driving taxis until I received a call from the Cape Peninsula Technikon on 19 January 1996, advising that I had two days to register. I had a new-born at home and didn’t even have a bag to pack my things in, but two days later I went straight from Cape Town station to class, having been met by Portnet’s Human Resources Officer who drove me to Tech.”

Captain Lekala went on to say that he worked hard in class and then conducted his sea-time and he eventually received his Officer’s ticket in 1999, after which he worked as a trainee tug master before qualifying as a tug master six months later in September. That same month, he was selected to be part of the first group to undergo accelerated marine pilot training in Rotterdam and on his return, chose to work in the Port of Saldanha as a trainee marine pilot, qualifying in 2001.

Shortly thereafter, he was relocated to the Port of East London where they needed marine pilots and within a few months, he was offered the position of Harbour Master of the Port of East London, when Captain Benny Swemmer took early retirement. His hard work was recognised when he won the Eagle Award in the annual Transnet Chief Executive’s Awards in 2004. That same year he was appointed as Harbour Master of the Port of Cape Town.

He was recently dubbed the “best and most dedicated seaman ever seen” by Captain Salvatore Sarno, the Chairperson of Mediterranean Shipping Company South Africa, Chairman Of MSC Mauritius, Chairman Of MSC Mozambique and President of MSC Madagascar.

Looking back on the past 20 years, Captain Lekala says TNPA has replaced and built new infrastructure, replaced and grown its fleet and developed its mariners and personnel to ensure they are able to handle new generation vessels and to compete effectively in an increasingly competitive global market.

More recently, under his strategic leadership, TNPA developed its own insourced aviation service, manned by a new generation of helicopter pilots and avionics engineers from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, taking its transformation agenda to the skies.