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Martin van Zyl is a mechanical and electrical engineer who has spent half a century turning stalled projects, failing companies, and national housing backlogs into delivered results — from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal to 150,000 homes built as Chairman of the Gauteng Provincial Housing Board.
A career built one delivered project at a time — each one chosen for what it taught him about getting work done in difficult conditions.
Principal engineer for the city's power station and high-tension distribution network — the grounding in heavy infrastructure that shaped everything that followed.
Appointed by Anglo American to commission a harbour critical to South Africa's GDP, synchronising it with a new 400km rail line from the coalfields. Present at handover in 1980, completed in five years from inception.
Built and exported diamond recovery plants to Australia, the USA and Botswana, leading a professional staff of thirty across multiple continents.
Turnaround consultancy work including workshop management at Genrec and Mitchell Cotts, and site management for Darling & Hodgson.
Took a stalled prefabricated housing factory to full production — one housing unit a day — through sales and marketing he drove personally, alongside industrialised building systems manufacture.
Led a joint venture with French construction group Spie Batignolles and affordable housing programmes totalling 5,000 homes.
Appointed by the new democratic government to chair an eighteen-member board spanning every political sector. Delivered 150,000 houses — including Cosmo City, Protea South and the Alexandra Far East Bank relocation — and managed a R2.5 billion fund with minimal loss or corruption. Led ministerial-level negotiations with Malaysia on housing investment for President Mandela's government.
Built a civil and infrastructure construction company to a R20 million annual turnover and R46 million valuation, constructing infrastructure across major residential developments until the global recession forced closure.
Advising companies and developers on feasibility, financial recovery, and project delivery — bringing the same discipline that rescued factories and built provinces to every new engagement.
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The same judgement that delivered 150,000 houses under national pressure is what he now brings to a single stalled project or boardroom — the scale changes, the discipline doesn't.
A selection of the housing and infrastructure schemes built during his time at the Gauteng Housing Board and beyond.
Beyond housing and harbours, a parallel career spent inside factories and plants that were failing — finding the real problem, then fixing it.
A bread-bag manufacturer producing 14 million bags a month, facing liquidation through poor financial control. Reorganised the structure, upgraded the electrical distribution, and built a fire-proof, access-controlled store — restoring profitability for fifty skilled workers.
A mining ore treatment and beneficiation plant manufacturer hampered by poor communication between technical and financial teams. Negotiated creditor settlements, restructured operations, and delivered a precision three-metre scrubber to a mine in Gabon.
A housing and office manufacturing factory at a standstill. Personally drove sales and marketing to reach one housing unit produced per day within six months — a turnaround substantial enough to attract a competitor's acquisition offer.
Reference quote to be added — Martin can supply a short comment from a colleague or client here to give a prospective client a sense of working with him directly.
Whether it's a stalled project, a company in financial distress, or a development that needs experienced hands at the helm — Martin brings five decades of delivery to the table.
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