Printing SA hosted its AGM and 115 year anniversary celebrations on 9 July 2026 at the Courtyard Hotel Waterfall City in Midrand. Sign Africa, Africa Print and Modern Marketing were proud media partners.
Printing SA President, Rajesh Lutchman, said Printing SA’s strength lies ‘not in the machines or technologies,’ but in its members. Printing SA is its members.’ A strong emphasis was placed on thought leadership, future sustainability and developing initiatives that continue to strengthen South Africa’s printing industry.
The association’s formal governance proceedings, chaired by Printing SA Managing Director, Jermaine Naicker, began with an acknowledgement of members in attendance and confirmation of quorum. All members voted unanimously in favour of the adoption of 2025 annual financial statements, appointment of auditors and board appointments.
Naicker then presented the Managing Director’s Report, providing members with an update on the association’s activities and operations. Skills development remained a key priority, with Naicker highlighting the expansion of new programmes that support the signage industry. These include short courses for the flexible packaging sector and new training programmes for substrates and acrylics. Upcoming partnerships with organisations are also set to broaden practical learning opportunities.
The association continues to invest in its Women in Print mentorship programme, while introducing mechanical aptitude assessments to help employers make more informed recruitment decisions before hiring apprentices and trainees. Members were also reminded that Printing SA’s training programmes are offered without training fees, supporting greater access to industry skills development. ‘We continue to focus on thought leadership and skills development, ensuring that the industry has access to the knowledge, training, and resources needed for growth,’ said Naicker.
Operational improvements undertaken during the past year included streamlining banking and accounting processes, enhancing media partnerships, strengthening industry benchmarking research and improving organisational communications. These initiatives, together with organisational restructuring led by the board, have positioned Printing SA for greater efficiency, long-term sustainability and growth. ‘By streamlining our banking and accounting processes, enhancing media partnerships, and conducting benchmarking research, we are strengthening the organisation’s ability to serve its members,’ stated Naicker.
The meeting concluded with the unanimous adoption of the audited financial statements, reinforcing member confidence in the organisation’s financial governance. The programme concluded with a general discussion session before the vote of thanks and adjournment.
Musa Kalenga, CEO at Brave Group, delivered his keynote speech on AI as an intelligence transition. He argued that businesses are no longer navigating a technology transition, but an ‘intelligence transition’, urging the print industry to embrace AI as a tool that amplifies, rather than replaces, human capability. He added that success will depend on combining human strengths such as creativity, judgement, context and intuition with AI’s speed, pattern recognition and predictive capabilities to create ‘augmented organisations’ and ‘amplified leaders’.
Highlighting global trends including automation, sustainability, personalised printing, web-to-print integration, smart packaging and increasing regulatory demands, Kalenga warned that organisations that fail to adapt risk becoming ‘drifting organisations’ overtaken by external change. Drawing on his personal experience of overcoming severe vision loss by integrating AI into his daily workflow, he demonstrated how technology can enhance productivity when used strategically, concluding that the printing sector should view AI as an opportunity to rethink processes, drive innovation and build resilient businesses that are prepared for the next generation of industry transformation. ‘The age that we are in is an intelligence transition, not a technology transition,’ stated Kalenga.
| LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR PRINTING SA Tel: +27 11 287 1160 Email: info@printingsa.org Website: http://www.printingsa.org  |
