NEWS
5
New standards executive
to drive SABS progress
On the back of the South African Bureau of Standards’ (SABS)
Standards and Competition Law Indaba, Plumbing Africa spoke with
Zingisa Motloba, newly appointed executive: Standards Division, on
the way forward for the SABS.
MOTIVATION BEHIND THE INDABA
The Standards and Competition Law Indaba was
trigged by the recent signing of a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) between the SABS and the
Competition Commission, underpinned by the case
studies discussed at the indaba, among others.
“The Commission cannot resign itself of its independence,
so they cannot tell us how to fix our problems. But they
can engage with us to the extent that they are able, and
we are willing, to share our inefficiencies, and so the
indaba was really to kickstart the co-operation envisaged
in the MOU, to announce that it had been signed, but also
to start giving teeth to it. Not just to put it in a drawer as
a document that we acknowledge for the auditor general
and then state we are addressing governance — which is
very much a culture in some of our state-owned entities,”
said Motloba.
Also contained in the MOU is an intent to set up a joint
working group between the SABS and the Commission.
The attendees of the indaba were Technical Committee
(TC) members, standards writers, and editors, because
as a collective, they are the owners of the governance
process. Also in attendance were members of the legal
fraternity, critical in giving guidance to strengthen the
efforts. The invitation was also extended to regional
standards bodies as this is a challenge that is not
unique to South Africa. The SABS was privileged to
be supported in this initiative by the leadership of the
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), in
the form of the president and president elect, as well as
the secretary general.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
Zingisa Motloba,
executive: Standards
Division at the SABS.
The SABS had been called to answer on a number of
discrepancies and risks that had been identified by
the Competition Commission. In the process, it was
acknowledged that a need exists to better understand the
weaknesses in its processes to strengthen governance,
which led to the MOU. This MOU is essentially premised
on capacity building and information sharing.
IMPACT ON STANDARDS GOING FORWARD
The processes for the development of mandatory and
voluntary standards are the same and so, any update
or revision to these standards would not be treated
independently. There is an acknowledgement that
some of the processes at the SABS are lacking, both in
diversity of represented stakeholders and consistency
and in efficiency of participation on the TCs and how
the committees support individuals — whether it is the
secretariat or the standards writers taking ownership
of the governance space. These challenges apply to
mandatory and voluntary standards and need to be
addressed through improved co-operation between
industry, government, academia, and the SABS.
“Where we find ourselves now means that there is not
much we can do about the standards that are already
published and implemented until they either come up for
review or there is a need to review them. So, if it’s not at
the trigger date, there must be a reason in the market
or it must be raised by a regulator like the Competition
Commission to bring it back to the committee for review.
We would hate to withdraw standards on the basis
that the ‘processes are generally flawed’, because that
Continued on page 7 >>
February 2018 Volume 23 I Number 12