Isaac Shange – 50 years
We said goodbye in May to Isaac Shange who had worked as Messenger and Tea Maker at Grindrod for an extraordinary 50 years. He started at Unicorn Lines in April 1967, aged 18.
Part of his duties involved delivering mail between offices and collecting mail from the post office twice a day, all of which involved walking many kilometres. The other more visible part was making tea or coffee, possibly more than a million cups during his career, for staff, and certainly he was known as a master tea maker.
Isaac made a point of remembering whether each director at board meeting preferred tea or coffee, and how they took it, just one example of the pride with which he worked. Thank you, Isaac.
Isaac’s day used to begin at 4 am in Umlazi township outside Durban. From there he travelled by taxi and by train to Durban’s CBD, and then another taxi to the office, arriving at 6 am. He used to leave for home at 3.45 pm each day, and be in bed early to repeat the process the next day.
Isaac married Doris in 1973 and they have five children.