OPINION PIECE 23
What grown-up industries do Electricians compete – but nobody calls electrical CoCs‘ anti-competitive’. It’ s a baseline safety gate that connects to a recognised and enforced process.
Mechanics compete – but a roadworthy test still exists as a safety net when a vehicle changes hands.
If other high-risk industries treat verifiable compliance proof as the entry fee to trust, why is it framed as‘ unfair’ to ask for it in plumbing, when failures can destroy ceilings, rot structures, contaminate water, and financially ruin homeowners?
Real competition is more players, and the same safety rules. Not fewer rules and more confusion.
What we should fight for Here’ s what I’ m arguing for: compliance proof isn’ t admin or‘ unfair competition’. Proof is a safety net. Or, put simply: compliance is the promise; proof is the receipt.
So, I’ m not interested in endless infighting about who’ s voluntary and who’ s recognised. I think the industry should fight for one thing – loudly, and without shaming anyone:
A single, verifiable compliance proof standard that is meaningful across systems.
Scrapping it punishes the honest plumber who does an honest day’ s work, and it leaves the homeowner exposed when something goes wrong.
Keep as many bodies as you want. But if compliance proof becomes optional then shortcuts win, and‘ licenced’ or‘ compliant’ becomes just another marketing word.
Food for thought The status quo never stays static. It snowballs. If you want to see the future of this industry, watch what the market rewards. Right now, it’ s speed, cheapness and plausible-looking paperwork. That’ s the race to the bottom – and once it sets in, it’ s brutally hard to reverse, because‘ optional compliance proof’ and corner-cutting become the new normal.
Professional plumbers: Are you pricing, packaging and making proof of compliance visible? Or being pressurised into corner cutting? The fact is that if we don’ t defend compliance proof now, the industry won’ t just get cheaper – it will get riskier, noisier and more uncertain. PA
References: |
1. |
NRCS— Media Alert: Refurbished domestic geysers …( 23 Nov 2022).( nrcs. org. za) |
2. |
NRCS— VC 9006: Compulsory Specification for Hot Water Storage Tanks for Domestic Use |
( Gazette 16 May 2014).( nrcs. org. za) |
3. |
IOPSA— Changes to SANS 10254 – 2022( 01 July 2022).( iopsa. org) |
4. |
PIRB— Update on COCs for electric geysers( 25 Oct 2022).( legacytwo. pirb. co. za) |
5. |
Competition Commission South Africa— Annual Report 2022 / 23( case reference included). |
6. |
Midvaal Local Municipality— Public Notice: Plumbing Compliance Requirements for |
Occupancy Certificates( 19 May 2025).( midvaal. gov. za) |
7. |
OUTsurance— Buildings & Related Contractor Technical Requirements( Oct 2023). |
About the author: Maryna Landman is the director of strategy and compliance at Alpha Plumbing, serving Johannesburg and Pretoria since 1989. With 22 + years in the plumbing industry and a legal / business background, she writes for plumbers who want sustainable, professional businesses – grounded in research and onthe-ground reality, not marketing.
Supplied by Maryna Landman
March 2026 Volume 32 I Number 01 www. plumbingafrica. co. za