Michiel ‘Mike’ Wijnberg - Quietly Building A Nation
Michiel
William Wijnberg was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa on March 25, 1926, and
died on 25th August 2008 in Bromeswell, Suffolk, England after a
brave and determined struggle with cancer. Known to his family as Michiel, but
to most others as Mike, he will be remembered by all for his generosity,
passion, humble dignity and quick wit.
His father was Dutch and his mother, a music teacher and first generation South African of Scottish descent. The family struggled during the Great Depression years, and he was very familiar with the hardships of poverty, without even running water that many take for granted. As the eldest child, he took the responsibility of looking after the family very seriously, setting a pattern of caring for others that ran strongly through his life. This frugal upbringing had a lasting influence on Mike, who had a particular aversion to unnecessary waste and never hesitated to help those in need.
In January 1941, at the tender age of 14 and with the Second World War raging, Mike left home to join the South African Merchant Navy, finishing his last two years of schooling on the training ship the “General Botha”, affectionately known as the “Bothie”. The training was tough and the “initiation”, which could be brutal at times, lasted for the whole first year!
Mike graduated as a Midshipman at 16 in December 1942 and, keen to pursue his career in the navy, joined the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and was seconded to the Royal Navy. His first ship was the HMS Revenge which was en route to the UK and Mike spent the remainder of the war serving in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from the Congo River to the Far East.
In June of 1944, at the age of 18, Mike was the youngest officer aboard the HMS Rodney during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. One of his proudest memories was of HMS Rodney hosting General Montgomery and the Rodney also played a significant role in bombarding the enemy positions along the coast of Caen.
Amongst his most notable missions was performing escort duties in HMS Rodney and his next ship, the Destroyer HMS Cavalier, for the Murmansk Convoys in the Arctic. Although Mike was never one to boast of his achievements, those who survived tell of incredibly harsh conditions, the vessels awash with water, the open bridge and the sub-zero temperatures endured on Arctic convoys, with the ever present threat of mines and torpedoes. The seas were at times enormous, causing the destroyer to roll so far over that there was risk of water entering the ship’s tall funnel and sinking the vessel.
HMS Cavalier took part in three operations off Norway in 1945 and reinforced the escort of Arctic Convoy RA64. After being attacked by U-boats and enemy aircraft, the convoy was scattered in a hurric ane combining force 12 winds, with ice and freezing conditions. This mission earned the destroyer a well deserved “Battle Honour”.
In 1945, when the war in Europe was over, Mike remained in the Cavalier, which was detached to the Western Approaches Command before joining the British Pacific Fleet on the East Indies Station, taking part in the bombardment of Surabaja, Java. The war with Japan finally came to a close and Mike was transferred to the SA Naval Reserve as a Sub Lieutenant, returning to South Africa for demobilization, after which he enrolled in the University of Natal as a civil engineering student.
His first post war job (1949-50) was the construction of Chileka Airport in Malawi, an important supply airfield that enabled food to be flown in to help victims of regional famine.
In 1950, Mike sailed back to England via Italy in a Pilgrim Ship, whereupon he rekindled the relationship he had with a young girl, Margaret Scott, whom he had first met in Cambridge during the war, when they were both 17.
This first meeting came about when Dr Peter Bayon entertained Mike as part of The Victoria League. Margaret’s brother, Hugh, was best friends with the Bayon’s son and spent a great deal of time with the eccentric family. Consequently she was invited to watch a rugby match with them at which Mike was present. It was another 8 years before they met again outside South Africa House in London, and in February 1951, Mike and Margaret Elspeth Scott were married, Dr Bayon filling the role of Mike’s surrogate father at the wedding.
Margaret was to provide a quiet but constant support for Mike, providing the anchor for his success, always enabling him to range far and wide building his business, friendships and other interests.
Despite having traversed the world during his time in the navy, Mike’s heart remained firmly rooted in Africa. He joined the Colonial Development Corporation, designing railways that stretched from Kano, Nigeria to Chad & managing building projects in the Gambia, Sierra Leone and Mali. It was here that Margaret joined him, in a remote region of the rainforest near Kumasi in the Gold Coast, as he was building the road from Mampong to Bolgatanga, where they lived in a minute corrugated iron house on stilts in the middle of the bush, far from civilisation.
Their next home was on the edge of the Sahara in northern Nigeria where Mike was building the road from Sokoto to Gusau. In this dry location the site for their house was chosen because of the presence of precious water - a green, slimy pond, no bigger than a dining room table. Additional water could be bought in the market where it was sold in goat skins.
It was from this site that the long camel caravans could be seen preparing to depart across the desert, and where the Wijnbergs' first child was born - under the chiefly authority of the Sardauna of Sokoto; the first of many African politicians and leaders whom Mike would come to befriend.
From Nigeria, the family moved to Zululand, where Mike began constructing the tarred road from Gingindlhovu to Empangeni and in 1955, given the choice between Baghdad or Ndola, Mike chose Ndola in Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) to manage construction of the new power station cooling tower - which still dominates the Ndola skyline.
A year later, when refused leave from his employer Mike promptly resigned and with one wheelbarrow, one cement mixer, a vanette, his first employee “Jim the Driver” and a £600 loan from his mother-in-law, started his own civil engineering construction company, MW Wijnberg Ltd.
After independence in 1964, there was massive investment in the country’s infrastructure, education and social welfare. Mike's construction business expanded rapidly, undertaking work for the World Bank, government, missionary organizations and private individuals. He found his niche building in the rural areas far from the main commercial centres, and his work included schools, hospitals, factories, refugee camps, churches and missions, housing schemes, military barracks, banks, roads and airports – all in the most remote parts of the country.
It sometimes took two or three days on untarred roads to reach his job-sites & in places that were flooded for months every year he built his own barges to transport equipment. The first stage of a project was often to clear an airstrip, and then to construct a hut for the foreman, with a vegetable patch to feed the crew. Adding to the challenges of poor roads, inadequate communications and erratic supplies were the occasional encounters with elephant, hyena and lions.
At peak operations, he had over 1000 employees and from his first major project - Tug Argan Barracks South of Ndola, to the Mfuwe International Airport in the beautiful Luangwa valley, Mike left his mark across the nation.
A well loved employer, many of Mike’s workers stayed with him for a lifetime, with one employee still with him 53 years after the company started. Known as "Winnibeg", or Bwana Manje-Manje (Mr. Now! Now!) to his men, Mike's name and legacy still lives on in many far-flung parts of Zambia.
As Mike’s business expanded he acquired a pilot's license and eventually two aircraft, which he used to reach remote building sites, and for pleasure. Despite having crashed his first plane, he enjoyed flying so much that he became the Cessna agent for Zambia and donated a plane to the Ndola Flying Club.
One of
his most memorable flights was an epic adventure from Cape Town to Scotland in
his canary yellow Cessna 210 ADJ with two great friends, John Webster and Piers
Anfield. It was on the solo return journey in early 1974, that he left his
passport in a Greek hotel and only realized his error half way across the
Mediterranean. Always one to think on his feet, he managed to distract the
Immigration officers at each stop South to Kenya. When officials called him
back to see his passport – he cheerfully replied “No, no passport!” and
continued without a pause…
While Mike was to play a significant role in the building of Zambia’s infrastructure, he also had a long standing and active interest in politics and community affairs.
A liberal at heart, he supported the South African and Zimbabwean exiles in Zambia and relished their eventual victory towards democracy. He often expressed a kinship with Kaunda's philosophy of Humanism - the idea that every person, no matter what creed or color, rich or poor, was deserving of equal respect. His wife relates that one of the first things that attracted her to him was his genuine interest in everyone, even the porter in the station!
His involvement in politics included testifying before Lord Monckton's Commission on the future of the Federation, and as one of the founders of the Northern Rhodesian Liberal Party with Sir John Moffat. In 1962, he stood for the Northern Rhodesian Parliament as a Liberal candidate, but lost his deposit when the Liberal platform, calling for a five-year transition to majority rule, proved anathema to 98% of his fellow European settlers. Undeterred, he stood again as a candidate for the town council under the banner of the United National Independence Party, and promptly lost his deposit again. During that campaign, he worked with a number of UNIP's senior leaders including Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, who was later to become Zambia's first President.
In later years as President of the Master Builders Association of Zambia he pushed for training programmes to ‘Zambianize’ the building industry. Here he gained the respect of the trade unions, including their leader Frederick Chiluba who sat across the bargaining table from Mike on many occasions before he was elected Zambia's second President.
As a
member of both the Ndola and Lusaka Flying Clubs, which were watering holes for
the apamwamba, the Zambian elite, Mike always had his ear to the ground
for the latest political gossip. When his own lawyer was alleged to have been
involved in an unsuccessful coup against Kaunda and fled the country, Mike's new
attorney was the man representing the plotters in detention! Through the Flying
Club, he also came to know the late Levy Mwanawasa, Zambia's third President.
A founder of the Ndola Boating & Sailing Club - together with a group of 5
other men who each contributed what they could to build the clubhouse; he also
became a Freemason, supported the Lions, and was involved with numerous other
organizations.
As his construction company prospered, he diversified into brick-making, metal-work, and one of his greatest interests, farming. Such was his love of growing things that even after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, he ordered a hive of bees and was planning to buy some sheep and chickens for the garden in England.
Although without any formal agricultural training, in the early 1970s Mike bought into a 250 ha farm on the banks of Kafubu Dam near Ndola, and took over its running when his partner died of malaria. Here he set about establishing a prize herd of pure-bred Boran cattle and became one of Zambia’s first commercial sheep farmers. Cross beeding African fat-tailed bush sheep from Feira on the border of Mozambique, with imported pedigreed Black-head Persian sheep from South Africa. This afforded him proud recognition for services to sheep husbandry by the Scottish Farmer’s Association.
In the 1980's, he carved from virgin bush a much larger farm, Chankalamu, in an extremely remote and undeveloped area near Mpongwe. Diligently mapping the 3000ha, he carefully set aside conservation zones. He carried out his own research on improving pastures and developed over 700ha of dry-land crops. Two cattle herds were maintained – a ranch herd for meat production, and a herd of hardy, pure-bred Boran, as well as 200 head of sheep. Of course, as always, one of the first things to be established on the farm was the airfield!
Mike’s paternal family was of Jewish heritage, however he was an Anglican and interested in all religions. He found deep spiritual solace in the beauty of nature, at times recalling how his mother would talk of their garden being their church.
He gave generously to missions of all denominations, particularly the Roman Catholics; two of his special voluntary projects were the restoration of the Old Church at Lubwe Mission where Dr Kenneth Kaunda was born and his very last construction project - the conversion of an abandoned municipal beer-hall into an ecumenical hospice called Cicetekelo, or Hope, a 25 bed hospice & 300 patients home-care facility for the destitute. He completed this project in 2005, even after having been attacked and nearly killed by bandits in his home in Ndola.
Passionate about ecology and preserving Zambia's environment Mike, together with
his dear friend Norman Carr, the doyen of Zambian conservation, decided that
something must be done to save the black rhino in the Luangwa. Together with
Peter Miller, they formed the Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) in November 1979, Mike
putting up the initial funds. The Trust was officially launched by HM Prince
Philip & supported amongst others, by H.M. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands,
Princess Anne, the Princess Royal & Sir Peter Scott, David Bellamy and David
Shepherd.
However the battle to save the rhino was too great against overwhelming odds and with Peter Miller’s death the Trust fell into decline. Mike then stepped in as Chairman, resuscitating the SRT with a new group of Trustees, recruiting Tadg Wixted, Peter Radford and Adrian Carr.
Under Mike’s direction and since there were no rhino left to save, the Trust threw their weight behind the reintroduction of black rhino to the North Luangwa National Park, with the principal funds being provided by the Frankfurt Zoological Society, assisted by Conservation Foundation Zambia.
Mike
was also instrumental in this third major conservation initiative, as a founder
director and shareholder of both Luawata Conservation Ltd & Conservation
Foundation Zambia. The initial project arose from a conversation between his son
Christian and an American philanthropist, and with the help of Jeremy Pope and
others, was launched on 24th September 1992.
In addition to the black rhino reintroduction project, these organisations have worked closely with the Nabwalya Community facilitating the distribution of revenue shares to the community, and the establishment of the Lusaka National Park. Numerous other support programmes of Conservation Foundation include game scout training & house construction, air support, the Kasanka Trust, Nyika National Park, the African Wild Dog Conservation (AWDC) and research on elephant with the Conservation Ecology Research Unit at University of Pretoria.
Remembered far and wide for his dry sense of humour and ready wit, Mike was a renowned practical joker, and could always be relied on to ease tensions by “cracking a joke”. While fond of laughter and making others smile, he had a pensive, melancholic side as well, especially struggling with this after retirement and the closure of his building business.
His appreciation of classical music, inspired by his music-teacher mother, gave him immense pleasure and he was an accomplished pianist, playing well into his 70s. Mike also had a great love for art, perhaps influenced by his father, a painter, and his dear friend, Reinhold Cassirer, Sotheby’s representative for South Africa; he was a patron of the renowned sculptor Dube, whose work filled the house, and lifelong friends with “Rynies” wife Nadine Gordimer, the Nobel Literature laureate.
His personal collection of books reflected his eclectic interest in all around him - from computer manuals, to animal husbandry, spitfire squadrons and Buddhism. He was an eternal scholar, always interested in learning something new or embracing the latest technology and as an octogenarian was a whiz with computers. He was a fount of knowledge; and if he didn’t know the answer, he would determine to find out.
With such a busy life and a habit of conducting it in such an unassuming way, there may be many causes, organizations and individuals which he supported of which we will never know; Mike was always willing to offer help and provide advice without expecting recognition in return.
Those we know include the Commonwealth Society’s Kambowa Settlement for the Blind, the Catholic Diocese Transit Home for Street Children, Home for Street Girls, Masala Settlement for Orphans and the Elderly; the World Council of Churches in Nigeria; The Barefoot School at Fatima in Ndola; Norman Carr Safaris’ Kapani Lodge; and the Crane Foundation.
He held the Chairmanships for the Joint Council for the Building Industry, The Building and Civil Engineering Association, the Ndola Horse and Pony Club, and the Zambian Society for the Blind & Handicapped; served as a Trustee for the Ndola Flying Club; was a committee member of the Kaloko Trust, a rural community project promoting environmentally sustainable agriculture; and Yosefi School providing education and scholarships for underprivileged children in the Luangwa Valley.
He was a Life Member of the Wildlife Society of Zambia, Lusaka Show Society, Zambia National Farmers Union, the Zambia Horse Society and the Aircraft Owners and Pilot’s Association.
A Life Lived to the Full
He lifted and inspired each person whose life he touched, his friendships crossing all boundaries, social and class divides, and lived his life with a genuine respect and compassion for all.
However Mike himself would be deeply uncomfortable with all this praise, for work that he felt was nothing out of the ordinary, and would I am certain want us to acknowledge all the many men and women who worked with, for and sometimes against him in order to paint this canvas. Always loathe to name people, in case he omitted anyone in error, he would simply add grateful thanks to everyone who worked to create these successes, against which his name is placed.
Nadine
Gordimer once said that he reminded her of W.B. Yeats' poem, An Irish Airman
Foresees His Death:
"Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death."
Michiel is survived by his wife Margaret, five children scattered across the
globe; James, Christian, Andrew, Catherine and Bridget; nine grandchildren; his
sister Llona, and two brothers, David and Paul.