Leon Grundling
Our water control manager, Leon Grundling, started his working life at Telkom, but he has always had a love for and an interest in water, and in the Kouga Dam specifically. He says, “When I lived in Port Elizabeth, I often used to rent a cottage near the dam to spend my holidays there.”
So, it was not a surprise career move when, 16 years ago, he started at GIB as a water control officer at the Kouga Dam. Some years later, he was inevitably promoted to “the office” where he has now been working for the past nine years.
GIB CEO Rienette Colesky says Leon has been a great addition to the team. “He is just so dedicated and I never doubt whether an instruction has been executed,” says Rienette.
Leon explains that the work done at GIB falls broadly into three sections:
- the administration of the whole process;
- the works or maintenance department, which covers technical aspects, like repairs and dealing with reported leaks; and
- overseeing the conveyance of water through the canal system to farmers in the area, as well as to Hankey and Patensie, and to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality water purification plant at the Loerie Dam.
Leon is a great lover of the outdoors, with camping and fishing listed as some of his favourite pastimes. In fact, he says, he was out camping at Gamtoos River when the national lockdown started, putting paid to the plans he had made for a peaceful holiday.
He is a very practical man, who loves working with his hands. He is just as handy in the kitchen, with his talents also extending to cooking and baking. And he loves a challenge in this area. “Anything you can do,” he quips, “I can do better!”
A family man, Leon and his wife have two children, a son and a daughter, who live in Port Elizabeth, and they are very proud of their grandsons, aged 11 and 3.
For someone who loves to be outdoors, Leon feels that he is perfectly suited to the type of work he does. He has no plans to leave the area, or to retire any time soon.
Ons waterbeheerbestuurder, Leon Grundling, het sy loopbaan by Telkom afgeskop, maar nog altyd ’n voorliefde en belangstelling in water, spesifiek in die Kouga Dam, getoon. ‘Toe ek nog in Port Elizabeth gewoon het, het ek dikwels in ‘n gehuurde vakansiehuisie langs die dam my vakansies deurgebring.’
Dit was geen verrassing toe sy loopbaan by Telkom 16 jaar gelede ‘n nuwe koers inslaan en hy by die Gamtoosbesproeiingsraad as ‘n waterbeheerbeampte begin werk nie. Die afgelope nege jaar is hy in ‘die kantoor’.
Hoof-uitvoerendebeampte, Rienette Colesky, glo dat Leon ‘n groot aanwins is vir die span. “Hy is so toegewyd. Ek is altyd hartgerus dat hy enige opdrag sal uitvoer,” sê sy.
Leon het verduidelik dat die werk wat hulle by Gamtoosbesproeiingsraad doen in drie afdelings verdeel kan word:
- die administrasieproses;
- die instandhoudingswerk wat tegniese aspekte soos herstelwerk aan gebarste en lekkende pype behels, en
- die oorsig oor die watervervoer deur die kanaalsisteem na die boere in die omgewing, sowel as na Hankey en Patensie, en daarna na die Nelson Mandelabaai munisipale watersuiweringsaanleg by die Loerie Dam.
Leon is mal oor die buitelewe, en vertel dat kampeer en visvang van sy gunsteling tydverdrywe is. Hy was juis op so ‘n kampeervakansie toe die landswye inperking aangekondig is. Daardeur is sy plan vir ‘n vreedsame vakansie lelik in die wiele gery.
Hy is ‘n man wat daarvan hou om met sy hande te werk en is net so behendig in die kombuis waar hy dit geniet om te bak en te brou. Hy hou van ‘n uitdaging. ‘Enigiets wat jy kan doen,’ lag hy, ‘kan ek beter doen!’
Leon is ‘n gesinsman. Hy en sy vrou het twee kinders, ‘n seun en ‘n dogter, wat albei in Port Elizabeth woon, en hulle is baie trots op hul twee kleinseuns, wat 11- en drie-jaar oud is.
Vir ‘n man wat so lief is vir die buitelug, voel Leon dat hy perfek geskik is vir die soort werk wat hy doen. Hy beplan nie om binnekort weg te trek uit die Vallei uit, of om gou af te tree nie.