Page 26 - Maritime Book 1

COMMANDER MOKHELE REFLECTS BACK
COMMANDER TSIETSI MOKHELE
"If it can be done, it will be done !"
Members of the rst groups to receive fast-tracked training who made it to the top, demonstrated an extraordinary work ethic and embraced the attitude that “If it can be done, it will be done.”
They were mature and resilient from having spent long times at sea as Cadets and Of cers, toughened to go the distance in the face of stiff resistance from the status quo, always
embracing the opportunities that came their way. Commander Mokhele recounts these examples of how they broke through the barriers.
An Overnight Adventure with Captain Lekala
Captain Rufus Lekala, who began his working life as a taxi driver, was at that time, a trainee marine pilot in the Port of East London. The Harbour Master had assured Commander Mokhele that he was doing very well and was competent but, for some strange reason, apparently in response to the resistance of the reluctant port’s serving marine pilots, had not granted him his licence.
The marine pilots in the port, who did not want to accept the new generation of marine pilots, did not turn up for duty. Commander Mokhele viewed this as a deliberate measure to play leverage and undermine the system. Ships were waiting for service and the crew was nowhere to be seen.
“I insisted that the Port Captain issue Captain Lekala his marine pilot open licence that very night so that he could keep the port open and handle ships awaiting service that night. And so it was that Captain Lekala got his licence and brought the vessel in at the Port of East London.
But the story does not end there. The pilots
in the Port of Port Elizabeth were also on undeclared strike, so once Captain Lekala was back on the ground, on learning about the shortage of marine pilots in Port Elizabeth, he jumped in his car and drove through the night to assist in Port Elizabeth.
On arrival in the morning, without any rest, he got straight to work and navigated an awaiting ship into port. Lo and behold, the ship that he ended up on was the same that he had sailed out of East London the night earlier. “The Captain
of the vessel must have thought he was seeing a ghost’, remarks Commander Mokhele.
That is the Legacy of the Class of 1999.
Breaking the Strike
In Port Elizabeth, the business had retained
a eet of the last remaining Z-Peller type tugboats in the port system. This technology was outdated and had been for decades;
only Port Elizabeth marine pilots could at
the time competently handle those tugboats. When the White union decided to counter
the transformation process, taking an unprecedented step for the Marine Service, they declared a local strike. The strikers had chosen
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