Katz king of Klerksdorp Rotary

OWN CORRESPONDENT

Katz has been a member of the Klerksdorp Rotary club since 2011, and has held numerous portfolios including supplying wheelchairs to the needy, a global campaign to end polio, and supporting the Rape Crisis Centre in Klerksdorp with care kits. About 60 rapes are reported in the area every month involving men and women aged between three months and 90 years. The kits include basic toiletries and other items that help to restore the dignity of victims.

Rotary’s theme this year is “Rotary – connects the world’. Katz has chosen to focus on peace and conflict resolution, given the unrest in the country. It is direction that Rotary supports strongly, and the club will focus on training people in conflict resolution. Katz jokingly says she feels qualified in this area, as she is continually refereeing conflict between her two strapping young sons.

Beyond Katz’s work for Rotary, she runs and owns two Chatz Vodacom franchises and a Glasfit franchise in Klerksdorp. She is also chairperson of the South African National Blood Service Donor Committee, and has served in the South African Police Services Reserves, where she continues to take an active role.

It’s rare for two sisters to be awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship (PHF) Award, the highest international award by Rotary, which recognises outstanding commitment to Rotary and/or to the community. Katz received her PHF two years ago, while her sister, Diane Wolfson, received hers 29 years ago in what was then the Pretoria 6 Rotary Club. Their father, the late Ivor Goodman, was an active Rotarian in Witbank for most of his life. Having been president elect twice, he declined the presidency, preferring to concentrate on his portfolio of service to the aged and the community in general. Clearly service to the community runs high in this family.