Ambition and hard work took him to the top
JOE Baagwandeen was one of the first Indians to break into the ship building industry and believes it was sheer luck that he got in.
But that wasn’t the hardest part for the 53-year-old Reservoir Hills resident. That, he said, was having to forge on through taunting and teasing from his colleagues.
Originally from Ladysmith, he described the start to his journey as “not a pleasant one”.
“I worked among the coloureds, who fought with me alot. They gave me a hard time,” said Baagwandeen, who laughed as he spoke about his early years.
He said the mockery and jeering reached a point where his friend quit after two weeks. Years later, the same people who ridiculed him have become his “brothers”.
“I stuck through it and the very men who gave me a hard time are now my best friends. Now no one can touch me, I’m untouchable,” he said.
Determined to make a success of his job, Baagwandeen focused on the tasks before him. He set a goal to get to the glass office on the top of the building and now can proudly stand tall and say: “I’ve made it.”
“It was my dream – an office that was only occupied by white people – and I’ve achieved that.”
From a boilermaker, he worked hard to get to the level of production manager. He said life growing up was difficult as his father died when he was 10.
He said it was only in 1985 that the company began taking on Indian apprentices.
“I wrote an aptitude test in school, initially not knowing what a boilermaker was. In January the following year, I received a letter stating that I was a successful candidate for an apprenticeship. I worked in Newcastle for six years. I then saw an ad in the paper looking for shipbuilders. I applied and got the job in Durban in 1990.”
In 1994 he was transferred to Dorbyl Motor Yards.
“I became a leading hand and thereafter a charge hand.”
In 1996, Baagwandeen was promoted to foreman. “That’s when we started the tug projects. I worked as a foreman until the yard closed in 2003.”
He said he was recalled when the yard opened as SAS in 2007 – as a superintendent in the steel and outfitting department.
“The department does all the steel work. I oversaw all the boilermakers and welders.”
He was later promoted to fabrication manager and, in 2015, became production manager.
Taking a chip off the old block, Baagwandeen’s 22-yearold son decided to learn his father’s trade.
“My job presently is to oversee the overall building of a tug from start to finish. From mechanical to pipe fitting and painting.”
He said it took about 14 months to build a tug.
The tug is produced once the drawing is done. The steelwork then begins with the boilermakers and the welders.
“We get the subcontractors involved. Electrical, carpenters and insulation. On the tug there is a lot of equipment and machinery needed. We source what we can locally, but the engines are from Germany.”
He said one of the sad times though was having to retrench people who worked on the current nine-tug project.
“We employ them on a month-to-month basis and even though they are aware that the project is ending, it still is unfortunate.”