MechChem Africa May-June 2025

⎪ Products and industry news ⎪

markets over the last 10 years. The com pany operates a fully owned subsidiary in Zambia to cater for the Zambian and DRC markets and has recently spread its wings in South Africa by opening a new branch in Steelpoort, while a new branch is in the planning for Rustenburg. Integrated Fire Technology is proud to be a leader in the African fire suppres sion market and is a part of the larger Gigi Investment Group located in Witfield, Boksburg. www.fogmaker.com

IFT showcases fire suppression solution

As part of the broader Business Sweden initiatives with companies such as Sandvik, SKF, Assa Abloy and Sodeico, Integrated Fire Technology (IFT) was proud to exhibit at the 2025 Mining Indaba in conjunction with colleagues and principals from Fogmaker, Sweden. Business Sweden is a brand of the Swedish Trade and Invest Council and oper ates some 40 offices in key market locations. Their key function is to offer consulting support to Swedish companies wishing to expand their global operations. This year’s Mining Indaba attracted over 10 500 delegates from some 210 countries. “As this was the first time that Fogmaker ex hibited at the Mining Indaba event, we were proud to be able to introduce Fogmaker to a wide array of delegates hailing from many countries and diverse types of mining operations. We do believe that Fogmaker is now firmly on the African mining fire sup pression map,” says IFT MD, John Russell. In addition to its focus on mobile mining machinery, IFT is also able to offer unique technological solutions for fire suppression Regulation 3630 of the National Water Act mandates that all water and wastewater works be managed by qualified profession als to ensure compliance and best practice – by registering all plant supervisors at the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA). This will benefit ordinary water users and businesses in South Africa while also em powering a professional designation that has historically not received the recognition that its vital role deserves. “Process controllers essentially run water and wastewater treatment plants across the country, by monitoring, operating and managing all the required processes,” says Lester Goldman, CEO of WISA. “Being a key part of the water chain, process con trollers will now see their responsibilities aligned like those of engineers and natural scientists, in whose shadow they have oper ated,” he adds. This lack of visibility is rooted in his tory. Process controllers started out as ‘operators’ with minimal qualifications, often ending up in water treatment plants as a form of demotion or punishment. “It used to be an undesirable job, so instead of being dismissed for whatever reason, you would be sent to that ‘stinky’ place situated some where on the outskirts of the municipality,” recalls Goldman. However, over the past six

in static equipment such as transformers, diesel tanks and bays, hydraulic power packs and generator sets. “Our unique AF-X dry aerosol system is the perfect fire suppres sion solution for a wide range of electrical applications,” he adds. Integrated Fire technology has steadily been growing the Fogmaker brand of high-pressure water-mist fire suppression systems in the South-African and African

At the Mining Indaba 2025 are from left: Mario Flores, Fogmaker International; Dave Coats, IFT; Håkan Juholt, Swedish Ambassador to SA; Johan Bjerstedt, Fogmaker International; John Russell, IFT MD, and Karl Dusselberg, CFO of GiGi Group.

Registration of water process controllers

Regulation 3630 will go a long way towards professionalising the roughly 4 000 process controllers in South Africa. The standardising of their education and training will raise the bar and produce bet ter qualified process controllers. It should also inspire new entrants into the profes sion and encourage continuous upskilling for those already on this career path. “As the Blue Drop and Green Drop reports show, there is a positive cor relation between the number of trained professionals and performance in the water sector,” says Goldman, which points towards potential improvements in water quality and availability for residential and commercial users. Furthermore, setting compulsory na tional standards for process controllers will also strengthen accountability in the daily operations of South Africa’s water and wastewater treatment works. This, in turn, should lead to more transparency, better local governance, and ultimately to an improvement in water service delivery. ‘The mandatory registration of process controllers should not be a grudge pur chase,’ concludes Goldman. ‘Public and private Water Service Institutions need to budget and fast-track training for this registration, because it is a crucial invest ment in the water security of South Africa.’ https://wisa.org.za

decades, their role has significantly evolved along with the increasing complexity of water purification, and the understanding that water and wastewater go through some key processes, which need to be monitored – with many of these now automated. Mandatory registration Nowadays, the designation of ‘process con troller’ requires a minimum NQF 6 qualifica tion and several years of work experience. “They are the unsung heroes who ensure that everything functions within the provi sion of our most precious natural resource,” says Goldman. “Regulation 3630 clearly states that the supervisor of every licenced water or wastewater treatment plant in South Africa must now be a senior process controller and be professionally registered.” This means that even municipalities with capacity issues can’t opt out of regis tering their process controller – or simply register one of their engineers or scien tists instead – as either scenario would make them non-compliant. The reason for specifying ‘senior process controller’ is that experts in engineering or natural science are highly specialised but don’t necessarily have the competency to man age the water treatment processes and run the actual plant itself.

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