52
PERSONALITY PROFILE
Gerard De Fine —
energy and passion
Visiting Gerard De Fine at the Umphakathi Development
and Training Centre in Bez Valley, Johannesburg, one
immediately senses his energy.
By Warren Robertson
Sprawling over a number of buildings, it is relatively easy
to get lost in the twisting corridors and steep staircases
that make up the various classrooms, offices, and
factory spaces of Umphakathi where students are taken
through every aspect of the plumbing industry.
Founding Umphakathi was a bold step, but not a world
away from what Gerard had always held close to his
heart: teaching others, and raising the standards, not
only for the plumbing industry but also for small to
medium black-owned plumbing businesses.
Gerard De Fine of Umphakathi
Development and Training.
“It’s my belief that at the moment, most of BEE is window
dressing. It’s about who you can buy to put in a position and
tick the boxes. This is partly because in many instances,
when you start dealing with the small to medium black-
owned businesses, they don’t actually have the skills
necessary to complete the projects they pitch for, or they
quote them incorrectly and land up running into trouble,”
says De Fine, whose passion for the endeavour is clear.
“So, we are looking at the supplier development
programme and also the plumber development
programme to ensure that when these small businesses
are favoured in terms of getting work and supply contracts,
they are actually competent, capable of quoting correctly
and managing the finance side, and doing the actual work.
We want to make sure they have the backing and are able
to grow their businesses. We want real transformation and
not just window dressing.”
De Fine started his school days at Rosebank Convent, a
school he is quick to note took boys for grade one and two,
before moving on to first De La Salle College and then John
Orr Tech, where he was determined to pursue a trade.
“For the first two years at John Orr, I did all the different
trades, from sheet metal and carpentry to electrical and motor
mechanics. After that you had to choose what you wanted to
focus on. My first choice was to become a carpenter because
that’s what my family told me to do, but I really liked plumbing
and in the end, I actually did that for matric,” he explains.
February 2019 Volume 24 I Number 12
After school, he spent a few years in Simon’s Town at the
navy before bouncing between three different companies
to complete his plumbing apprenticeship.
“After I completed my apprenticeship, I joined SM
Goldstein. In the early years, I did a lot of housing
down in the then homelands. After many years of doing
housing, I was moved on to commercial buildings
and major reticulation projects. I realised I wanted
more than to just be a plumber, so I focused on
quantity surveying. I did all the measurements and the
certificates for the various jobs we worked on,” he says.
But he still wasn’t entirely satisfied.
“I then did estimating for a little while, before taking over
as the area manager for Goldstein’s plumbing division
Plumbgold in the Northern Transvaal. Following that, I
came back to Johannesburg. When Goldstein was taken
over by Group Five, I became the operations director for
Group Five’s plumbing division,” he says.
It was then that his restless energy led De Fine to resign and
found his own plumbing company, Glamorgan Plumbing.
“I wanted to grow a little bit, but 18 months later,
Group Five bought the company and I was back where
I started,” he says.
At the time, a major contractor having a plumbing
division with high overheads made them uncompetitive
and after much deliberation, it was decided to shut down
the plumbing division and use the more competitive
plumbing subcontractors.
De Fine spent the next 10 years in England looking after a
couple of family businesses. However, he returned in 2007
and joined Independent Plumbing Suppliers where he had
purchased some shares before leaving South Africa.
“I was there for 11-odd years; then in February last
year, I sold my shares and focused on Umphakathi
Development and Training,” he says.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za