Machine design guide for download; Electronics sector board appointed despite some dissent

At a well-attended meeting held on 26 October 2010 at the Department of Trade and Industry campus in Pretoria, representatives from various electronics industry organisations and companies voted in the first board mandated to take the new South African Electronics Industry Federation (SAEIF) forward.

The first meeting of the SAEIF held in May 2010 elected a task team representing the various sectors to develop an interim constitution and working document. Elected to the task team were Eugene van de Walt, Sagren Pillay, Keith Thabo, Hannes Taute, Jaime Vilela, Roger Couzens, and Jeenesh Manga.

The draft interim constitution was tabled at a meeting in September 2010, and was adopted in principle. The task team was then mandated to finalise the documents which were widely circulated in early October by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for comment, together with a call for nominations for the first board of the SAEIF.

When the interim constitution was tabled for acceptance at the meeting on 26 October 2010, the National Association of Manufacturers in Electronic Components (NAMEC, www.namec.co.za) objected to certain clauses, and in particular with the clause dealing with composition of the board. The NAMEC representative argued that as a federation only the various electronic industry bodies should make up the board, and not the industry at large.

Meeting chairman Jeenesh Manga of the DTI queried why NAMEC had not submitted proposals or objections when requested, and said that this was not the time to raise objections as NAMEC had had the opportunity to discuss its issues during the time the constitution was being developed.

The chairman of the SAEIF steering committee, Sagran Pillay, pointed out that the constitution on the table was an interim one and would be further developed by the board, and that NAMEC's concerns could be addressed at that time.

After a long and sometimes heated debate, the chairman of the meeting closed the discussion and proceeded with the agenda. The NAMEC representatives did not accept the position, declined to vote, and walked out of the meeting.

In the absense of NAMEC, the interim constitution of SAEIF was then unanimously accepted. Manga tabled the nominations, explained the voting process, and handed out ballot forms. After voting, the meeting adjourned while the votes were counted by members of the task team who were not candidates for the board.

The meeting then reconvened and the new board was announced. The following were elected to the first SAEIF board:

As no nomination for treasurer had been received, it was agreed that the new board would deal with filling the vacancy.

To manage the diversity of the electronics industry in South Africa, the board was also tasked to set up sub-committees representing the different disciplines, including contract manufacturing, design houses, component suppliers, wireless telecoms, consumer electronics, utility metering, education and training, and defence. One of the important tasks of the board, in cooperation with its sub-committees, is to support the development of an electronic SMME sector by facilitating skills development and knowledge-sharing.

The objectives of the SAEIF are to: