Head Office

Shortly before the work on the dam was nearing completion and work on the irrigation canal had been started, Theo Hooper and I were instructed to transfer to the site of the Van der Kloof Dam on the Orange River. I paid a few visits there to supervise the test tunnel work that was on the go there. The fact that the design and construction of the Orange River dams and tunnel were going to be carried out by private consultants and contractors was initially intensely disliked by the Water Affairs engineers. I had hoped to become in charge of my own construction site and asked Mr Jan Jordaan whether I could be relieved of my transfer to van der Kloof. He asked me to meet him at the Port Elizabeth town hall, where he happened to be, and offered to send me to the Ruigtevallei Dam, now called the Gariep Dam, under Dale Hobbs. He thought that I did not want to go to van der Kloof because I did not get on with Theo Hooper, which was not at all the case. I believe that Theo also refused the transfer, and we were both left where we were, until a short time afterwards, I was appointed Resident Engineer of the Krugersdrift Dam on the Modder River near Bloemfontein. But first, I had to go to Head Office to work on the design of the dam, while starting the organisation of the works. While this was going on, Roby Myburgh, in charge of the design office, asked me to come and see him. Water Affairs had received an offer from the French Government to send one of their engineer to a four months “stage” – i.e. practical study of “dams and their foundations.” But the chosen engineer had to go to France first to for a four months’ intensive course French. Because he was aware that I knew French and wanted to entice me to stay in the design office, he offered me the opportunity. I accepted, even if it meant that I had to leave my own construction job, which I coveted. Hein Grimmsehl took the Krugersdrift dam job over from me and I was put in charge of the three laboratories: hydraulic, materials and structural, none of which I knew very much about. During those months, I was tested by IBM on my ability to master computer programming. These tests were positive, and I was sent on a course to learn FORTRAN programming. At the end of the course, the students were asked to solve some practical problem with the CSIR computer. This was a huge machine which still used radio lamps and was housed in a large air-conditioned room. Input was with punch cards. Most of the others tackled some small problem or another, but I tackled a major task: calculating the setting-out data of the Kat River Dam, about to be constructed. From experience I knew that doing it by hand as I did for Stompdrift, would take about two man-years of engineer’s work. The output was used by Eckhardt Muller in the construction of the dam. I was so enthusiastic about computers that I nearly changed career! This also landed me in the job of acquiring the first mainframe computer for Water Affairs: the IBM 1130! I was also the first official outside the typing pool who later got a Wangwriter, a forerunner of a PC for use by my secretary.

In February 1965, I left for France to start the Stage, organised by ASTEF (Association pour l’organisation des Stages en France) – later called ACTIM. There were engineers from all over the world, all of whom, except Stefan Colback from the CSIR and I, had to learn French first. It was remarkable to see that the two Japanese who were part of the group, could master the language sufficiently to follow the courses. The subject was Dams and their Foundations. Eminent engineers, such as Pierre Londe, later President of ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams), Mr. Martin en Georges Post from Coyne et Bellier, gave us lectures. All types of dams were covered by specialists in their field. Site visits to dams under construction were undertaken. Among others the tidal project on the Rance (then the first one in the world), the Massif Central and its dams on the Dordogne, the Alps with well-known dams such as Vouglans and Roselend, hydro-development of the Durance (Serre Ponçon) and of the Rhine etc. Extensive on-site explanations were provided by the resident staff. Visits to various laboratories were also organised: the one of Public Works, CERILH, SEIT and Chatou. Construction firms such as Solétanche and machine constructors such as Albaret were also visited. On my way home after four fruitful months, I visited the Laboratorio Nacional in Lisbon on instructions of Dr Jacques Kriel, then Chief Engineer Planning and Design. I paid a heavy price for my stay in France, because my wife left me and the children shortly afterwards to marry the man with whom she had an affair in my absence. I mention this, because it had an effect on the rest of my career.

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