Some 57 years ago, Toastmasters formally came to the shores of Southern Africa with the formation of the Johannesburg Club (113) on 23 May 1950 and the Pelindaba Toastmasters Club (2444) in April 1957.

The ensuing years then saw a slow growth in the number of clubs. Around the early 60’s there were a few members who saw the light and benefits of Toastmasters for Southern Africa and they pushed and finally organised the clubs into a Toastmasters Council in 1969. One of the Council Chairmen, Adrian Spruyt ATM, is still a member in good standing to this day.

It took another 10 years for them to grow to the critical mass of 50 clubs which allowed us to be registered as a fully founded District in 1979 under the leadership of the first District Governor, Gert van Blerk DTM.

Toastmasters meetings in those days, and until about 1990, were somewhat different to the rather casual approach we have to Toastmastering today. I can remember my first meeting at CIS Club in about 1984 when I was totally intimidated by the formality and the stringent adherence to parliamentary procedure and having a business session at every club meeting. In hindsight, I believe we have missed a critical learning opportunity in that we no longer teach this vital skill of running effective business meetings which is so sorely lacking in the business world today.

The District grew at a slow but steady pace until Hennie Lemmer DTM (District Governor 1986) started a revolution and stimulated a desire in a bunch of “Young Turks” to take up the challenge of getting Toastmasters in Southern Africa recognised as providing better than just the minimum standards of education and training for its members. The next 5 years was a period of  frantic and organised activity which saw the movement grow from 70 clubs in 1985 to 120 clubs in 1991. Not only did we grow exponentially but we also achieved international recognition for the first time in 1988 when we became a Select Distinguished District (placed 7^th in the world) under the leadership of Adolph Kaestner DTM.  This feat was beaten the following year by us being placed 3^rd in the world under Howard Steinberg DTM and again 2 years later when we achieved 6^th place under Ian Flint DTM. Other years when we have been recognised internationally for having provided Distinguished service to our members in District 74 are 1993 – 8^th under Taffy Roberts, 1994 – 11^th under Maggi Northam DTM, 1999 – 22^nd under Anella Grimbeek DTM and the last time we made it was in 2002 – 27^th under John Bourhill DTM. A notable milestone was that Maggi Northam DTM was also the first female District 74 Governor in 1994/5.

One of the District's speaking milestones was when Michelle Friedman became the first female to win the District 74 International Contest in 1985. The first District 74 contestant to get through the Overseas run offs and represent us at the Finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking was Llewellyn Kriel in 1988. Since then we have had other speakers from District on the Finals platform namely Llewellyn Kriel again in 1997, Jonah Mungoshi in 2002 was placed 3^rd and Douglas Kruger in 2001, 2004 and again in 2005 when he was placed 2^nd in the world.

Another milestone was the expansion of Southern African Toastmasters into the rest of Africa and as can bee seen on the map we now represent 9 countries in Southern Africa, namely Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There is also every likelihood that we will soon be welcoming Kenya to the fold as well.

So where to from here? Only time will tell!

Adolph P Kaestner DTM, PDG