Chris Swanepoel 

Apologies for not making it here tonight but it is my wedding anniversary and I have abandoned my wife tonight also; so, I am in many people’s bad books.

In my absence, Jacob has kindly volunteered to step in for me.

This award is very special to me and during my career, I have unashamedly influenced the Society to honour those people who deserved the true recognition from our community. When Jakes Jacobs received the award, he wryly commented that you gave me this before I was no longer around to receive it. Little did we know that his words would come to fruition far too early.

I am particularly proud that the Society has decided to honour as its first posthumous recipient, and I can think of no one more deserving of this, than Chris Swanepoel. It is a pity that he is not here today, but I am sure that he would be very proud of the accolade and that his family is here to celebrate it with us today.

His record of Service for Anglo American and later with Thungela was exemplary and some of his technical contributions (I will cite a few,  adoption of the Jinjing filter press technology, best practice in tailings & dam management are some of the more recent examples) but there have been many more innovative things that he did throughout his highly successful career.

However, there was one thing that was missing – he was not that well known outside the ambit of his employer, and it was subject of many disagreements between us. He stepped into the late Kevin McMillan’s shoes at the SACPS and wow it took off; people quickly took notice and in the words of our current Chairperson of the Society, he was known as the “gentle giant” and let me tell you he was a GIANT of a man, an absolute gentleman all the way and very humble to boot.

I thank you.

David Power