NOT ALL WAS FUN AND GAMES, THERE WAS ALSO DANGER LURKING

Now that I have your attention I am going to tell a story that is true but in a way sounds a bit outrageous. This happened later on in my stay there and after I had been moved from the project team to the corporate office. Trust me, at the time, this was a very scary situation, but now looking back on it, it’s almost like “did that really happen”. Yup it did. It goes something like this. One fine day a VP of the company I worked for, and a guy who had been in country for a few years, decided that all department heads would travel out to our work-site and have an on project review, of each, of our, particular responsibilities.

Well, it sounded like a good break from the office so I hopped in my vehicle and headed straight east of Johannesburg to the client’s plant called Secunda. At that time we had been awarded a major contract to expand their existing facilities and install new process equipment and additional plant facilities. We all gather there and start a review of the work in progress. It was basically a walking meeting and we toured, primarily, the areas that we were responsible for. Our location, within the plant was a little bit separated from the main operating plant. Anyway the tour was progressing well, it was a beautiful day, spirits were high and our confidence in completing our individual tasks was strong. All was right with the world.

It was during a lull in the meeting when all of a sudden there were three loud explosions. Like booooom, booooom, and booooom. In the distance, across the plant from us, you could see three plumes of smoke rising from the ground. They appeared to be in the centre of the operating plant area. I was startled, to say the very least. Everyone was looking around and at each other and you could hear the tone of the voices, get a little more high pitched. Like “Geezus what was that?” “sounded like something blew up”, “what is our protocol, now”.

As we were milling around, and within a few short seconds of the explosions, sirens start wailing, shrieking, hooting and blaring. If my nerves were on edge, this further contributed to my feeling of “on coming” panic. Two vehicles with lights flashing and sirens blaring, full with uniformed guards and their toys, came flying past us and disappeared out into the low brush that surrounded the plant. In an instant they were gone. Now protocol said that if there were alarms going off while we were working at or near the plant, we were all supposed to congregate in our site office, and the most senior guy from our company, onsite at the time, was to proceed directly to the client’s offices for instruction. So our VP hopped on a project vehicle and headed over to see what had happened.

Our guy was gone a good long time, and when he did return he looked slightly shaken and called us around. He said that they were made to wait quite a while for a report from the security forces, as to what had happened. Eventually he was informed that there was no longer any immediate danger, whatever danger there was had been controlled, and that we were free to return to work. He was further told that the local terrorist group, I won’t mention any names, however most will know to whom I am referring, had somehow gotten close enough to the plant to fire three mortar rounds into the operations area.

Somehow, in the middle of a major operating Synthetic Fuels Plant they had managed to miss everything and everyone. He also, apparently, said that their aim was, consistently, about that accurate. According to our guy, he said that nobody over at the offices, seemed particularly concerned or upset about this occurrence. They may not have been, but I can tell you I was “focused”. He also told us that he had encountered the security forces returning from the fields and had stopped to speak with the leader of that group. He asked what had happened and was told, that a small cell had got inside of their perimeter and shot three mortar rounds into the plant area, and that he and his men had loaded up and went off in pursuit. When questioned how that went, apparently he said, with a very stern look, “there were no survivors” and then proceeded on his way.

Another day in the life of South Africa. I must say, I did not dawdle in the completion of my remaining tasks, and quickly got back in my car and headed my ass toward the safety of our offices in Sandton. I would have tried to add the funny bits, however there was nothing funny about this memory, then or now.