Blog of Batman

Original article posted by MagmaTec

A little over 10 years ago, members of the then Southern Life EB IT department underwent some anxious moments when it was announced that Southern Life was being “merged with” (or more correctly “taken over by”) Momentum Life. Some of the drivers at play in this regard were that Momentum had a relatively small EB operation, and were not in a position to take on the much larger EB book of Southern. The decision had however been taken that the merged Momentum EB head office was to be in Gauteng. Our EB IT staff were desperately needed up there, but not many (none!) were prepared to make the move from Cape Town. As in all mergers, the biggest question for our staff was “what will happen to me”.

Fortunately for us, Momentum had an entrepreneurial culture, which was open to entrepreneurial behaviour and risk taking. So when the idea of the Southern EB IT shop starting a company by itself was mooted, they accepted this as a win / win proposition, which would provide the new Momentum EB entity with protection regarding the maintenance of the Southern Legacy systems. Consequently, MagmaTec came into being on 01 November 1998! As a new business, it was started with a lot of idealism and enthusiasm, a contract to support these legacy Southern systems, and not much else in the form of business experience or further opportunities. The journey had however begun… Some highlights over the years included:

• Early on, we had no structure, open salaries, and lots of lengthy debates over every decision - we took a few days of meetings to choose a name, and our first new person recruited (Vanessa) required a company vote for approval!
• We had lots of “sessions” (at The Range in Tokai) facilitated by Helene Smit, with the purpose of getting everyone`s emotions and values incorporated in the new “MagmaTec culture”. Many of the cultural factors that emerged in those early years have in fact stood the test of time, and are still very much part of MagmaTec today.
• Although we were primarily a mainframe shop at that point, we did have a few “new age techies” in our midst (eg Steve, Bruce) who actually knew how to “program for PC`s” as we called it back then. They did an investigation as to whether our future should lie more in the Java or the Microsoft worlds. History tells us what they decided!
• We had no clue as to what services we actually offered, and basically tendered for any IT work that we could come across (any technology, any industry). We did a web site for Future Growth, a financial calculator called “Lighthouse”, and a few other small things that cost us money but didn`t go anywhere.
• We did a lot of work for a company called Limon (now sadly demised), based in Jhb - so LOTS of stressful travelling was done by Brian, Shafiq and Cathy Kleyn, who became local residents in the Morningside City Lodge for months on end.
• We looked hard for an office to rent, couldn`t find anything suitable and eventually took the risk of buying the offices at Greenford.
• We then did a catering system for Fedics, and a survey system for Netcare, both of which in fact are still being used in one form or another, despite not being worked on for many years!
• It slowly dawned on us that we always struggled to get new business, and we needed a marketing specialist. Brian emerged from the technical woodwork to start a drive in marketing strategy. Eventually (with the help of a consultant) - we got the idea that the one area we could in fact compete was - you would never guess - Employee Benefits IT! This insight had taken us a few short years (we were quick learners you see :). Once we focused on “EB IT”, the company growth started.
• Growth meant many more talented people joining us, and making their individual marks on our fledgling company in different ways. Middle management layers started to appear, our “Finance” and “HR” functions began to get more formal, and in general, we became more structured and organized.
• Once we started to reach our peak in our local EB IT clients, we decided to spread our wings into the broader financial services market, and also to Johannesburg… and this is where we are today.

On the one hand, it feels like we started the company just the other day, and it is difficult to believe that 10 years have already passed. On the other hand, we have grown and learned so much during this time, as we faced one challenge after the other, that it seems like a VERY long time since we started. But overall, I for one can say that although there have been some difficult moments (and there still are many challenges we are grappling with), the consistent reason that I have stayed at MagmaTec, is that all the people involved have made the journey a very special one. I wouldn`t wish to face the challenges of competing in today`s very competitive markets, and dealing with ever increasing demands from clients, with any other group of people!

I would like to end off by saying a big THANK-YOU to all the staff who have been with us along the way, regardless of how long they have been at MagmaTec. Our collective efforts have resulted in us being able to move from a small start up, to a professional mid-size IT company, and credit in this regard is due to each and every person who played a role. Apparently only a very small percentage of start-ups make it through to 10 years, and I think we can all be justifiably proud to be one of them.

Now to the challenges of the next 10 years!

Stuart Phillips - Managing Director

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I took these photo’s while on vacation on the South Wild Coast, South Africa.

I have a Canon EOS 350D, with standard 18-55mm lens.

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I took these photo’s at the Botancical Gardens just outside Worcester, Western Cape, South Africa.

I have a Canon EOS 350D, with the standard 18-55 mm lens.

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The Sealand Express who was anchored off of Cape Town South Africa in 2004

The M/V Springbo & M/T Gas Roman on approach to the mega-port of Singapore in 2003

The Ital Florida who hit a bad weather on her voyage from china: Ital Florida - Container Casualties

These photo’s courtesy of gcaptain

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Deep in the heart of the California desert lies one of the natural world’s most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Racetrack Playa, Death Valley. These are not ordinary moving rocks that tumble down mountainsides in avalanches, are carried along riverbeds by flowing water, or are tossed aside by animals. These rocks, some as heavy as 700 pounds, are inexplicably transported across a virtually flat desert plain, leaving erratic trails in the hard mud behind them, some hundreds of yards long. They move by some mysterious force, and in the nine decades since we have known about them, no one has ever seen them move.

The floor of the playa is dried, scorched mud which has broken into perfect little octagons and pentagons and mosaic. This is as “desert” as you can get in America. It’s as flat as flat can be. With rocks which seem to move on their own. They break off the hills you see in the background. Their tracks vary in length, going every which way from zig-zags to loops; some double back on themselves. Some travel only a few feet; others go for hundreds of yards, yet they can be right next to each other, and right next to some that don’t move at all.

These sailing stones, also referred to as sliding rocks or moving rocks, are assumed to slowly move across the surface of the playa, inferred from the long tracks behind them, without human or animal intervention. They have neither been seen nor filmed in motion and are not unique to The Racetrack. Similar rock travel patterns have been recorded in several other playas in the region but the number and length of travel grooves on The Racetrack are notable.

Racetrack stones only move once every two or three years and most tracks last for just three or four years. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight striated tracks while those with smooth bottoms wander. Stones sometimes turn over, exposing another edge to the ground and leaving a different-sized track in the stone’s wake.

A balance of specific conditions are thought to be needed for stones to move:

• A saturated yet non-flooded surface,
• Thin layer of clay,
• Very strong gusts as initiating force,
• Strong sustained wind to keep stones going.

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For nearly 400 years, Robben Island, 12 kilometres from Cape Town, was a place of banishment, exile, isolation and imprisonment. It was here that rulers sent those they regarded as political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of society.

From 1836 to 1931 the island was used as a leper colony and animal quarantine station. During the Second World War, the island was fortified and guns were installed as part of the defences for Cape Town.

Under the apartheid regime, Robben Island became a maximum security prison in 1959, and its character as an island-prison near to a major population centre invites comparisons with Alcatraz. Between 1961 and 1991, over three thousand men were incarcerated here as political prisoners, often for decades. Prisoner family member visits were restricted to once every six months, for a period of only thirty minutes, in conditions which made even conversation difficult. The only reading material allowed was the Bible. A variety of barbaric impositions were made on prisoners, including breaking rocks and mining lime. In the early 1980s, many prisoners engaged in more active demands for rights, and a 1981 hunger strike reinforced their case and led to some minor improvements in conditions. It is of particular note as it was here that former South African President and Nobel Laureate Nelson Mandela and incumbent South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, alongside many other political prisoners, spent decades imprisoned during the apartheid era.

Throughout this period, security was very tight and the island off limits to almost all civilians, including fishermen. Before about 1980 almost no-one, even among inhabitants of Cape Town, had set foot on the island. It is not generally known that the use of the island as a prison was greatly inhibited for centuries by a lack of fresh water. The island is arid, with low scrubby vegetation and has no watercourses. Boreholes were drilled in the first half of the 20th century but in due course the fragile water table was invaded by sea water and the bores became useless. Sometime after 1965 a pipeline was laid on the bottom of the ocean from Cape Town.

The particular character of the apartheid era prisoners, and their disciplined morale in the face of considerable difficulties and even abuse, is well attested as being sustained by their commitment to the cause of the struggle for freedom, in particular for the majority black African population.

In June 1980 Frederik Willem de Klerk initiated the removal of political prisoners, and most prisoners left by May 1981. The last of the non-political prisoners (who had always been held separately from political prisoners) left the island in 1996, and it became a museum in 1997. Nelson Mandela left to worldwide acclaim on February 11th, 1990.

Since 1997 Robben Island has been a museum acting as a focal point of South African heritage. Daily tours of about 4 hours long, including the two half-hour ferry rides are offered (weather permitting) from the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. In 1999 the island was declared a World Heritage Site.

The main centre of Robben Island is located in a small village and mostly everything - from milk to building materials had to be ferried over from Cape Town Harbour. Robben Island generate it’s own electricity and obtains its water from nine boreholes.

Much has been done to restore the Robben Island’s ecological haven to what it used to be centuries ago. In 1991 Robben Island was included in the SA natural heritage program and the northern parts of the island was declared a bird sanctuary. Buck, ostrich, and rabbits are also to be found on the island.

Robben Island and nearby Whale Rock have been the nemesis of many a ship and its crew. The surf of the open Atlantic Ocean thunders continuously at its margins and any vessel wrecked on the reefs offshore is soon beaten to pieces and disappears. In the latter half of the 1600s a Dutch ship laden with gold coins earmarked for the payment of the salaries of employees of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia (now Indonesia) disintegrated on these reefs a short distance off shore, in relatively shallow but very restless waters. The gold today would be worth tens of millions of pounds sterling or U.S. dollars. A few coins have washed ashore over the centuries but the treasure itself remains in the ocean. It is protected largely by the almost ceaseless and violent surf. Many other vessels have been wrecked around the isle.

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