The annual Printing SA Gala Dinner in collaboration with FESPA (The Federation of European Screen Printers Associations Africa) recently took place at Gallagher Estate on Wednesday, September 12th, was attended by nearly 300 members from the printing & packaging industry.  

 The event was held in association with the FESPA Africa Expo which is co-located with the Sign Africa, Africa Print and Africa LED Expos, and is held annually in celebration of Printing SA’s jamboree week of print.  

Founded in 1911 as the Printing Industries Federation of South Africa, trading under the promotional brand Printing SA, has traditionally catered to the needs of all printers, packaging manufacturers, and service providers to the industry.   The gala dinner was “themed 1920s New York”, paying tribute to the entrance of fashion and style into the modern era. This was also the age of the big jazz bands and, of course, the golden era of mass media.  The gala dinner certainly was a blast from the past showcasing an era during which several iconic magazines were launched – including National Geographic, Vogue, Reader’s Digest. Interestingly enough, this was also a time when advertising revenue grew with Coca Cola spending in excess of $100 000 dollars with magazines and newspapers.

 Members certainly put the printing presses on hold and let their hair down to the swing jazz band Swing City, enjoyed a delicious menu made up of brie and mascarpone gateau with smoked ostrich, served with an orange and walnut compote, chicken breast with wild mushroom sauce set on French beans, sauté peas and potato croquettes and scrumptious honey, hazelnut and mango mousse topped with a pistachio praline crust.  Members were also treated to Printing SA’s national TV campaign adverts which showcased ETV celebrity presenters and the Goliath Brothers showing that the South African printing and packaging industry which is very much alive and well. 

This was followed  by a  time to celebrate and recognize various members within the printing industry. High profile guests at this event, including Deon Joubert, Acting President of the Printing SA Board, Ms Felleng Yende, CEO of the FP&M Seta and Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, the Honourable Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, addressed members throughout the evening Ken Leid, Printing SA’s Director of National Training and Development, together with Practical Publishings’ Charnia Yapp, the organiser of the 2018 FESPA and Africa Print Expo and editor of Practical Publishing, presented this year’s National TT Block Awards. 

Coming in as third runner up was Clive Edward Sharpe from Cape Town, with Lucky Dludla from KZN in second place and the overall national top achiever for 2018 was Thilimbilu Tshivhase who is interning at Caxtons with a pass mark of 97.4%. They received cheques of R2000, R3000 and R5000 respectively!  Another highlight on the programme was the presentation of the Gutenberg Awards which were introduced to commemorate printing greats Lambert Retief and Martin Deysel. 

Central Chamber Chairman, Mr Andrew Reid presented this year’s awards to Ms Felleng Yende (CEO of the FP&M Seta) and Mr Edward Ronny who have both been instrumental in the advancing the industry in the private and public sectors.