The acting chairman of the SAMAA management committee

Recently there have been some significant changes to the SAMAA managment committee.
Rob Hearn asked if I could post some info on Joe Coetzer, who is acting chairman until the election of a new committee.

Here is what Joe has to say for himself:

Contrary to general opinion in the family I was not born in a nest, but from my earliest memory all things that could fly fascinated me. My earliest contact with the hobby was pre-school, my mother confirms that I built my first model plane out of solid balsa at the ripe age of five years; I remember only the accidental cuts on my fingers due to inexperience with an old razor blade.
I quickly progressed to stick and tissue models and built everything, from simple gliders to jetex models. Control line was the in-thing for many years and an ED Diesel my favourite engine.
After a stint in the Army, I bought a single channel Pixie radio set from Hal Snow at the then Eloff Street branch of Redleys in 1965. This was also my introduction to Jack Immelman, who became a lifelong friend. The pixie was quickly followed with a Climax 4 channel analogue set. I soloed shortly after that under the expert eyes of Hal and Jack.
In 1966 I moved to Pretoria and established the Silverton Model Flying Club (of which I was Chairman for 15 Years). This was also when I met Dries Welgemoed and Monty Malherbe. Following a strict morning of testing, Monty certified me as a grade 1, SAARF Instructor. In the years that followed I taught numerous RC pilots to fly, including Andre Stockwell, who went on to establish himself in the aerobatic annals of South Africa. Alan Fraser is also one of my well-known protégés from the early years of RC flying in Pretoria.
Rob Street got me involved in gliding in 1973 and I have to admit that after having caught my first thermal, I was hooked on gliding, which have been my passion ever since.
I got involved in the SAARF (predecessor to SAMAA) in 1975 and became Vice Chairman in 1977. In 1978 I attended the CIAM meeting in Paris. Work commitments forced me temporarily to put the hobby aside in 1980 and although I never stopped building or flying on an individual basis.
In 1997 the gliding bug again bit seriously. At this stage I had a Flamingo kit in the workshop for years and this became my vehicle for re-entering the gliding scene.
In 1998 Silverton Model Flying Club decided to offer the Gliding Section R5000-00 plus all the relevant gliding equipment, to enable the section to form an independent gliding club. This lead to the establishment of the Silverton Gliding Club and as first Chairman, I got pulled into the Model Gliding Association (MGA), which operated under SAMAA as the gliding division of SAMAA with a seat for the Chairperson on the SAMAA Management Committee.
Within a year I was elected Chairperson of the MGA and, after many years, again became involved with the management of the national body for aero modelling in South Africa.
The Committee requested me to revise the Constitution, which through the years became outdated. In actual fact a number of clauses in the existing Constitution were being flaunted due to the laborious processes required to change them.
In drafting the new Constitution I provided for the system of Special Interest Groups (SIG'S) and a flexible Constitution based on enabling clauses which would allow the Management Committee to manage effectively the "national" issues, such as frequencies, safety, airspace and insurance. The SIG'S and Clubs would be empowered through delegations to do their "own" thing, under the over-arching oversight of the Management Committee. Another important facet of the new Constitution is that the majority of the members of the Management Committee are elected by means of a fully democratic ballot. The composition of the Management Committee also provides for a Dealer representative to be designated by the dealers themselves. Similarly, a Club and SIG representative are to be designated by the Club's and SIG's respectively.
In March, following Bob's resignation, I was elected unanimously by the SIG Chairpersons, Club representative and the members of the Management Committee to serve as Chairman, until the new Committee is constituted and in a position to elect a new Chairman.
I am committed to serve the membership of SAMAA during my tenure to the best of my ability.

Joe Coetzer