The NSRI has the pleasure of announcing that Mike Vonk, with years of experience as an NSRI volunteer and Chief Executive Officer of the George Regional Hospital for the last 13 years, will succeed Dr. Cleeve Robertson as Chief Executive Officer of the National Sea Rescue Institute in October 2024.
Mike’s passion for the NSRI is deep and long-standing, extending to three generations of NSRI volunteers in his family. He is married with two sons and a daughter.
He has been an NSRI volunteer for 14 years, including six years as Deputy Station Commander and the last two years as Station Commander at Station 23 in Wilderness.
He has a thorough understanding of the challenges the NSRI faces in pursuing their vision of a water-safe nation and has been actively involved in both an operational and preventative capacity through his leadership of the Wilderness NSRI station.
He will join the NSRI management in Cape Town in October and ensure a seamless handover between himself and the retiring CEO, Dr Cleeve Robertson.
The NSRI thanks Dr Robertson for his exemplary service over the last eleven years and extends its best wishes to Mike Vonk for taking on the leadership role of a wonderful community organisation dedicated to saving lives, changing lives, and creating futures in South Africa.
Welcome to the helm, and congratulations, Mike!
2 fishermen swept off the pier suffer severe injuries
Read More
The NSRI is celebrating the women who serve across its rescue stations, swimming pools, classrooms and beaches, ahead of Women's Day on 9 August. From volunteer sea rescue crew to survival swimming instructors, shore controllers and Pink Rescue Buoy custodians ...
NSRI Lamberts Bay and NSRI Strandfontein responded together on Saturday, 1 August 2026, after a 13-year-old swimmer got into difficulty off Strandfontein, West Coast. An adult bystander and three NSRI lifeguards who swam out to assist were themselves caught in ...
At 08h23 on Sunday, 26 July, NSRI Port Alfred duty crew were activated after a boat capsized in the Kowie River Mouth, Port Alfred, with two people in the water. One man tragically lost his life, while his grandson was ...