NOVEMBER 2000

MARCH 2001

NewsletterNo.43

S A SUGAR TECHNOLOGISTS' ASSOCIATION

The 75^th Annual South African Sugar Technologists’ Congress is to be held from 31 July – 3 August 2001. The opening plus AGM will be held at the Holiday Inn, Durban (the old Elangeni Hotel) and the following sessions at the Science Lecture Theatres Complex at the University of Natal's Durban Campus. The keynote speaker at the Opening of Congress will be Seán Cleary.

Seán Cleary studied politics, economics, psychology, philosophy, history and law at the University of Cape Town, the University of South Africa and Pahlavi University in Iran. He also holds an MBA from Henley Management College and Brunel University. Seán pursued a career in the South African diplomatic service. More recently he has founded a number of companies, one of which is Strategic Concepts, which specialises in risk assessment and research and analysis of socio-political and economic issues in Africa south of the Sahara.

Seán is a regular lecturer at the Graduate School of Business Leadership at the University of South Africa, the Graduate Institute of Management and Technology and the International Centre for Management Development. His articles have been published in various South African and international journals.

Dr Florence Wambugu of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications based in Nairobi, Kenya, has been invited to address the Technical Session on the opening day of Congress. She will speak on the ‘Availability of Biotechnology for the Developing World’ and on ‘Priority Needs for Biotechnology Applications in Africa’. Dr Wambugu has had articles published in the New Scientist and Nature Journals and has been an acclaimed speaker at various international conferences. ISAAA’s mission is to contribute to poverty alleviation by increasing crop productivity and income generation particularly for resource-poor farmers, and to bring about a safer environment and more sustainable agricultural development. ISAAA’s objectives are the transfer and delivery of appropriate biotechnology applications to developing countries and the building of partnerships between institutions and the private sector.

The judging of papers for the Kynoch-Agricultural, Cecil Renaud–Agricultural and Factory, Talbot-Crosbie–Factory and SASTA Poster Awards will take place as usual.

The Innovation Awards were made for the first time in 2000. These Awards generated considerable interest at Congress 2000 and we would ask you to assist SASTA by nominating entries from the factory and field for the awards in 2001.

The SMRI Innovation Award presented to the ‘McGyver Clamp’. The innovation was developed by Len Helfrich of Tongaat-Hulett Sugar Ltd, Felixton. Felixton is one of the few mills where the ‘super rigs’ have both trailers off-loaded simultaneously by spiller cranes. The double trailers have reached such a length that this results in considerable ‘overhangs’ on the crane hook bars. This overhang, or counter weigh effect, meant that spiller beams were prone to flipping off the crane hook bar and falling into or onto the truck below. This sometimes caused damage as well as being a considerable threat to life and limb.

The mill was almost at the point of rejecting these trucks due to this hazard when the ‘McGyver Clamp’ was invented. It is a gravity-driven device that automatically clamps the hook bar to the spiller beam during the lift and releases it once lowered. The falling of spiller beams during lifting has been reduced from a daily occurrence to virtually nil as a result of this innovation.

The SASEX Innovation Award went to Dave Dinklemann of SASEX for his many innovations in the eldana-rearing unit in the Entomology.department.

The SASTA Secretariat has received 66 papers for Congress 2001 – 13 of these from the Factory sector and 53 from the Agricultural sector.

Will those authors who submitted abstracts please be reminded that the deadline for submission of full papers (maximum 2,500 words) is 31 March 2001.

It is imperative that these deadline dates are adhered to as it is our aim to have the Congress Proceedings on a CD for distribution at Congress. There can therefore be no extension of deadlines to Authors for submission of papers.

Dr Tony Wood (Agriculture) and Mr Bruce StC Moor (Factory) have been co-opted onto the Congress Organising Committee to promote the submission of papers and to ensure that papers are submitted timeously. If there are any queries with regard to submission of papers, please contact either Dr Wood – telephone (031) 764-6645 or e-mail at woodra@3i.co.za, or Mr StC Moor – telephone (031) 701-0296 or e-mail moorb@mweb.co.za.

The deadline for submission of Short Communications and Poster Summaries (1 200 words) is 27 April 2001.

For a detailed copy of the instructions please refer to our web-site or request these from the SASTA office (contact details appear at the end of this newsletter). Text must be in MS-Word or .rtf format. The name of the program used to create graphs, figures, tables etc. must also be supplied. Once the paper has been edited/refereed the corrected hardcopy and the original copy showing editors’ remarks, together with a computer disk, marked with the author’s name, must be forwarded to the SASTA office. A style sheet and instructions to authors are available for downloading from the website.

The submission of short communications is encouraged. These require the submission of an extended abstract of approximately 1,500 words. This type of publication was designed to expose new ideas or preliminary progress.

The SMRI is willing to assist factory-based authors in the preparation of their papers. This could involve assistance with data analysis, structuring and editing of the paper, and to a limited extent, preparation of computer-based visuals. Authors should not hesitate to contact SMRI for such assistance, but should do so in good time.

Registration and the opening of congress will be held on 31 July 2001 at the Holiday Inn Durban (Elangeni Hotel), 63 Snell Parade, Durban. Please refer to the SASTA web-site www.sasta.co.za for regular updates or phone the office +27 (0) 31 539-3205 and speak to the SASTA Secretariat.

The technical sessions will be held from the 1 - 3 August 2001 at the University of Natal’s Science Lecture Theatres Complex at the Durban Campus.

The magnificent KwaShukela building, the South African Sugar Association’s Headquarters at Flanders Drive, Mount Edgecombe, will be the venue for a special 75^th Anniversary Cocktail Party.

Companies or individuals who are interested in sponsorship may contact the SASTA office for details. We would like to remind all sponsors that this is the 75^th Anniversary of SASTA and encourage your participation to make the event memorable.

A proposal has been made to hold a Soil Compaction Workshop during Congress 2001. Details will be confirmed at a later date.

The next ISSCT Technical Workshops will be held in conjunction with Congress 2001 in Brisbane, Australia from 16 – 21 September 2001.

SECTION	VENUE	THEME	DATE
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY	BRISBANE , AUSTRALIA	WHICH WAY FOR SUGARCANE IN THE ‘CENTURY OF BIOTECHNOLOGY’	18 – 20 SEPTEMBER 2001
PROCESS SECTION WORKSHOP	BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA	SUGAR LOSSES FROM MIXED JUICE TO MARKET SUGAR	19 – 20 SEPTEMBER 2001

DON’T FORGET TO DIARISE the 24^th ISSCT Congress to be held in Brisbane, Australia from 16 – 21 September 2001. You can access the latest news on the Congress via their web/internet site at http://www.ccm.com.au/issct.

If you would like to know more about the Congress, please give the Secretariat a call when we would be more than happy to help with any queries regarding air bookings, accommodation, registration and pre-congress tours.

Delegates wishing to attend the ISSCT Congress are reminded to pay their membership dues to the ISSCT Secretariat in Mauritius as a matter of urgency, as attendance at Congress is dependent upon membership. If subscriptions are paid before the end of May 2001, the fee payable is US$60-00; after this date the fees will be US$70-00. The Secretariat is encouraging delegates to pay early.

The SASTA Secretariat is able to assist with ISSCT Membership Application Forms, if required.

This will be held on 31 July 2001 at the Holiday Inn Durban – the old Elangeni Hotel – on the afternoon of the opening day of Congress 2001. In accordance with the amended Constitution, please note that nominations and voting for Council appointments will take place closer to the AGM.

The University of Natal’s Science Lecture Theatres Complex has been booked for Congress 2001 from 1 – 3 August 2001.

Council has agreed to hold a Field and Factory Day this year. At present it is probable that this will involve a tour to the Pongola/Swaziland region. More details on this trip will appear later in the year.