3rd Maritime Heritage Conference
Keynote Address
Professor/Captain Frederick Francis
Hon Professor, Master Mariner, LLM
Founder Commodore and President : The World Maritime Heritage Society
Delivering the 3rd Maritime Heritage Lecture
Topic:
“Our Seafaring and Shipping Heritage: Survival, Challenges and Opportunities in Times of Pandemia”
Professional Experience
A veteran seafarer, educator, consultant and researcher with a focused range of expertise. Started sea career as a deck cadet officer and rose up the ranks to master at the age of 29. Commanded nine ships before stepping ashore and joined the Singapore Polytechnic. Under a scholarship, read law in the UK and awarded distinction for the dissertation (salvage). Currently, the Assistant Centre Director of the Centre of Excellence in Maritime Safety, Singapore Polytechnic and hold several other portfolios at the Singapore Maritime Academy.
Provides international consultancy, leads and serves on several professional bodies. Current president of the Singapore Nautical Institute, and the World Maritime Heritage Society, and serves on the Mission to Seafarers Singapore and the Maritime Law Association of Singapore. Written eight books including Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore (co-author for Shipping), Guide to Safe Navigation in the Singapore Strait, and History of Singapore – Islands and Islanders.
Speakers
Commander Tsietsi Mokhele
Chairperson of the Board, Maritime Heritage Institute (MHI)
Topic:
The Political Economy of Maritime Heritage – Seafarers: At the Core of Shipping's Future
Commander Tsietsi Mokhele is the Chairperson of the Maritime Heritage Institute (MHI) and immediate past Chief Executive Officer of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (2008 – 2016).
His maritime career started in 1987 when, he got a scholarship to the Caspian Higher Naval College in the Soviet Union, qualifying as a Naval Officer on completion of his BSc Equivalent Degree (Ship Navigation, Command) in 1991.
In 1993/1994 he was appointed as the Co-Chairperson of the Navy Integration Work Group at the Joint Military Co-ordination Committee (JMCC). The JMCC was a body put together, following the multi-party negotiations between mainly the ANC and Nationalist Party government, constituting a transitional government formation charge with the development and implementation of the strategy and policies for the integration of the multiple military formations in South Africa. As the Co-chairperson, Commander Mokhele was charged with not only representing the interests of the ANC but also to co-design a new Naval Organization which would be capable of serving the democratic government of the day and uphold the democratic constitution in South Africa. For that role he played within the JMCC he is a proud recipient of the Commendation of the Chief of the Navy.
After the Navy integration process, and between 1994-1997; he proudly joined the SA Navy as a Commander, put on the uniform of the new SA National Defence Force (SANDF) and served his country as a Senior Officer.
Mr Patric Tariq Mellet
Asirawan Siam Healing House & SA-Thai Slave Heritage Reflection Centre
South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA)
Topic:
Identifying, Protecting and Promoting Our Seafaring Heritage Resources:
Table Bay As a Busy Pre-Colonial African Proto-port 1600 – 1652?
Interrogating Herri’s Claim in 1652 to Having Started the Port Trade at Table Bay
Patric Tariq Mellet aka Zinto (MSc) author of 4 books, recipient of provincial honours for his heritage work, has been writing on politics, history, and heritage since his teens when two free newspapers that he produced were banned by the Apartheid Regime. Exiled he ran the liberation movement press and broadcast on Radio Freedom. Though leaving school halfway through high-school into the world of work, later in life he qualified in two artisanships and a master of sciences degree focussed on migration, and the management of tourism, flows of people and conveyances.
Rising from a factory worker in his teens, working as a maintenance fitter and lithographic printer, he was the first post-1994 head of Public Relations at Parliament and also served as special advisor to a cabinet minister – Minister Naledi Pandor. On retirement in 2015 he was a commanding officer in the IMS Ports of Entry Inspectorate in the aviation and maritime law-enforcement environment across South Africa.
Many in his family were life-long seamen, and Tariq as he is known, also first went to sea as an engine-room boy when he was 14 and maintain an interest in maritime affairs. In his late fifties as part of his work in the Port of Entry arena, and as an expert on human migrations, he worked with the computerised SA Movement Control System used to log all arrivals and departures of people, crews, and vessels into and out of South Africa’s eight sea-ports. As someone who also did research and writing on history, this led to an interest in looking at data available in the Netherlands on vessel and people movements in the period 1600 to 1795 during the United Dutch East India Company period, and particular in the period 1600 to 1652. Some of the results of this work is in his best seller book – THE LIE OF 1652. He found that the available data put a whole new light on SA history as it is taught.
Tariq, now retired, is co-founder of the Camissa Museum at the Castle of Good Hope, focussed on the story of Camissa Africans (aka ‘Coloured’ people). He is also a councillor on the SA Heritage Resources Agency.
Ms Louisa Mabe
Acting CEO of the National Heritage Council (NHC)
Topic:
Transforming, Protecting and Promoting Our Maritime Heritage For Sustainable Development, Against The Pandemic Tides.
Ms Louisa Mabe was born in Tlhakong (Mabeskraal), Rustenburg in the North West Province, South Africa. She completed her matric at Rauwane Sepeng High School during the heat of apartheid post the 1976 students’ uprisings.
She proceeded with tertiary education at Hebron College of Education to train as a High School Educator where she became more active in politics. While she taught for many years as an educator while she was also active in politics and trade union activities. She held various leadership positions in education, trade union and political landscape.
In 2000 she became a local government Councilor and later joined the National Parliament (National Assembly) as a Member. She participated and chaired various committees such as the Public Accounts and Joint Budget Committees.
In 2009 she then joined the North West Provincial Legislature as an MEC (Member of the Executive Committee) for Finance and later Education.
She joined the Council of Robben Island Museum and World Heritage Site Council in December 2019 and has recently been appointed as the Acting CEO/Administrator for the National Heritage Council (NHC).
She has been in the economic and governance space for several years and has taken interest in the Heritage and Cultural issues as a new area of focus.
Mr Odwa Mtati
CEO - South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI)
Topic:
Linkages and Collaboration Amongst Role Players – Challenging Pandemic Restrictions
Mr Odwa Mtati, CEO of SAIMI (South African International Maritime Institute).
SAIMI is hosted at Nelson Mandela University, and works nationally with role players across a range of disciplines and sectors that make up the Maritime Economy.
Mr Mtati has been with SAIMI since its inception in 2014, fulfilling a range of strategic roles, which has provided him with the relevant experience in the broad-ranging mandate of the institute and the critical national importance of the maritime sector to the country, including different Operation Phakisa Oceans Economy Structures.
Mr Mtati brings a wealth of experience, having served as the former CEO of the Port Elizabeth Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PERCCI) and Director and Owner of Jupilog Enterprise Development. He is also past chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism, Deputy Chairperson of the Eastern Cape Gambling Board and Chairperson of the Methodist Homes for the Aged and eZethu Development Trust and served on the Nelson Mandela ICT Incubator.
His career path spans the portfolio of Business Development Manager at Canon Eastern Cape; Director: Management Services in the Department of Correctional Services; Head of Marketing at Port Elizabeth Technikon and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Student Counsellor at Vista University.
Furthermore, he holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from Nelson Mandela University and a BJuris and BA from Vista University.
Ms Rosabelle Boswell
DSI-NRF South African Research Chair in Ocean Cultures and Heritage
Rosabelle (Rose) Boswell is an anthropologist and poet. She is also a DSI-NRF South African Research Chair in Ocean Cultures and Heritage. She is author of Le Malaise Creole: Ethnic Identity in Mauritius (Oxford: Berghahn 2006), Representing Heritage in Zanzibar and Madagascar (Addis Ababa: Eclipse 2008); Challenges to Identifying and Managing Intangible Cultural Heritage in Mauritius, Zanzibar and Seychelles (Dakar: CODESRIA 2011) and Postcolonial African Anthropologies (co-edited with F. Nyamnjoh Pretoria: HSRC Press 2016), Things Left Unsaid(2019) and Pandemix (2020), two poetry books published by RPCIG: Bamenda and New York. A forthcoming (2022) edited book is in progress with Palgrave Macmillan, London, entitled Blue Heritage: Global Perspectives on Ocean Histories and Cultures. Boswell is also a co-investigator on two NRF Community of Practice Projects (CoPs): The Oceans Account Framework and the Algoa Bay Marine Spatial Planning Project.
Mr Siqhamo Yamkela
Senior lecturer in the Department of Public, Constitutional and
International Law at the University of South Africa’s College of Law.
Siqhamo Yamkela Ntola is a senior lecturer in the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law at the University of South Africa’s College of Law. In this capacity, Yamkela serves as an assistant editor for the Journal of Ocean Governance in Africa (JOGA), an associate editor for the Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa (CILSA) and a data editor and contributor for a volume book series titled African and the Law of the Sea – Contemporary Norms and Practice.
Yamkela is a legal scholar with a research focus in international law, particularly international law of the sea and the relationship African States have with this branch of law. Yamkela has made academic contributions in this branch of law in peer-reviewed publications, with his latest output being a book chapter titled “Sailing towards Prosperity: Ocean Governance Agenda in the 21 Century” in Filho, Pretorius & de Sousa (eds) Sustainable Development in Africa: Fostering Sustainability in one of the World’s Most Promising Continents.
Yamkela holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (now Nelson Mandela University). Yamkela is candidate for a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree, specializing in Sustainable Mineral Resource Development under the University of Cape Town’s Mineral to Metals research group, and has commenced with a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree at the University of Pretoria.
Ms Tsepiso Taoana-Mashiloane
Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO): South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA)
Academic Qualifications: BSc, BSc Hons and MSc in Botany from the University of the Free State and a Public Management Diploma with several short courses in public administration. Master’s Degree in Maritime Affairs (Maritime Safety, Environment and Administration) World Maritime University. Sweden
Brief Maritime Sector Career History:
Ms Taoana-Mashiloane career in the maritime sector began in 2013 after completion of her studies with the Malmo, Sweden-based World Maritime University. Upon her return she joined the Department of Transport as the Director for Maritime Industry Development and Economic Regulation, thereafter assumed the role of Chief Director responsible for maritime Infrastructure and industry development. Responsibilities included amongst others, ensuring proper coordination between Government, State Agencies and the maritime Industry in terms of industry development and promotion, and ensuring that economic regulatory framework and environment serve the interests of South Africans. In 2021, during the same month that she was seconded to SAMSA as acting CEO, she had just been promoted to Chief Director responsible for Maritime Regulation (safety, security and environment (marine pollution)) with effect from 01 February 2021.
Driven by passion, keen interest and devotion to hard work in a smart way in the broad development and transformation of the South Africa maritime sector to not only generate wealth, but include everyone; she lives by the mantra that “In this male dominated industry we work in, I will be My Sister’s Keeper…I am going to stand behind her and help push her into her destiny”!
Ms Wendy Cooke
Sub Lieutenant South Africa Sea Cadets
I started Cadet at the age of 9 years at the Johannesburg branch and completed until Ensign rank.
I took a break while focusing on my family and career and rejoined the Vereeniging base in 2015 where I assisted to get the unit restarted as the youth interest had faded over the years.
This is voluntary and passionate part of my life.
I am a procurement specialist but spend most of my time with the cadets.
I believe in youth empowerment and will go the extra mile to assist them in having a brighter future than most are guaranteed.
Ms Jessica Davids
Enterprising and dedicated Maritime Training Specialist operating in maritime industry
Enterprising and dedicated Maritime Training Specialist operating in maritime industry, offering 15+ years of in-field experience and expertise in eccentrically environments, taking charge of on boarding, training, and development of large and diverse teams. Well-versed in training course development and coordination, in line with learning and development strategies, coupled with delivery of highest quality and engaging professional development. Skilled in both synchronous and asynchronous on- and offline instruction.
Nominated as “Rookie of the Year” during first contract with one of the world’s largest cruise lines.
Appointed as leader of South African group on study trip to China, 2019. Presented to industry professionals on current Maritime climate within South Africa.
Selected as part of only five South Africans from 2,000 applicants for the position of On Board Corporate Trainer for the world’s largest cruise line.
Member of project team that established first maritime school in an inland province in South Africa.
Devised and created robust and evidence-backed syllabus for career in cruise line industry for well-known South African university.
Appointed as leader of South African group on study trip to China, 2019. Presented to industry professionals on current Maritime climate within South Africa.
Keynote Speaker at National Tourism Careers Expo Educator Seminar 2019
Presented for array of campaigns, including Fourth African Symposium on Human Factors and Aviation Safety (ASHFAS2019), Fourteenth Ergonomics Society of South Africa Conference (ESSA2019), , Durban South Africa, on Role Between Sleep Ergonomics and Performance of Seafarers.
Keynote Speaker at National Tourism Careers Expo Educator Seminar 2019.
Department of Transport Women’s Day Celebration 2016: Presenter – Message of Encouragement.
Nominated as “Rookie of the Year” during first contract with one of the world’s largest cruise lines..