64
LAST WORD REVISITED!
If it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it
“One always
has the
opportunity
to make the
change from
the inside.”
By Rory Macnamara
Sounds like something someone would have said in the days
of the ark! But no, said in 1977 by T Bert Lance, Director of
the Office of Management and Budget in the presidency of
Jimmy Carter.
His reasoning was simply that huge amounts of
time and money can be wasted by government
and business when they fix things that are not
broken and don’t fix things that are broken.
While one could write screeds on what our government
is and is not fixing, we are moving closer to home in
our own plumbing backyard. Nothing and no one is
perfect, and that’s a fact. So, it becomes necessary for
us to take what we have, warts and all, if that is the
case, and make it better.
For over three decades IOPSA has served the plumbing
industry, having started in Cape Town and developed
into a national body that has the interest of the whole
plumbing industry, at various levels, at heart. One of
the positive developments was the formation of the
Plumbing Industry Registration Board (PIRB). Something
that government could not or would not legislate for their
socialist/Marxist reasons, so industry decided to set up
a voluntary scheme that would raise the standard of
plumbing by registering and auditing serious plumbers.
Getting it going was a long slog and hard work by people
and yes, you guessed it now that the bodies are working
there are a number of people that will seek to destroy
rather than build up.
To build up one must be part of the body. Sniping from
the outside is like weeing down one’s dark pants, getting
a warm feeling, but no one else notices! One could go
so far to say that actually no one cares. But why try to
fix something that has a credible track record. Sure,
perhaps everything they do is not to our liking, but one
always has the opportunity to make the change from the
inside.
Neither IOPSA nor PIRB are broken - so why do we have
all this chatter about what’s wrong with them when
those chatterers are not even members? So, a whole lot
of energy is wasted, and one example is a social media
group that makes outrageous and slanderous statements
when the bodies have not even been addressed, and
most of the group members are not part of making it
better. The worst of the lot is when race is used to justify
actions when things do not go their way.
Sad but true. So why don’t we make 2020 a year where
we can all listen, hear and respect other views and most
importantly work on consensus.
Plumbing and plumbers are the protectors of the
health of the nation and this is supported by laws and
standards. Change can be brought about through
the correct channel if proven technically sound. With
technology moving at the pace it is, what does need to
be fixed are some of the outdated standards. So, let’s
focus on getting it right together! PA
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
@plumbingonline
@plumbingonline
@PlumbingAfricaOnline
March 2020 Volume 26 I Number 01