Action is the name of the game !

Rory Macnamara

We must all act now for the sake of all .

South Africa witnessed a seismic political shift after the general election as did the UK when the ruling party was unceremoniously dumped and replaced with good and poor public representatives .

While it is not this publication ’ s policy to meddle in the political arena , it is critical to observe that as our industry is going to benefit from the changes considering the important role plumbing plays in the nation ’ s health and safety .

Hopefully both the DTIC and infrastructure departments will appreciate the need to get moving in both the non-compliance and building areas respectively . We do hope that the new Minister of DWS builds on the excellent work left by her predecessor and that the department starts recognising the role of the plumber .

Considering the shortage of qualified plumbers for whatever reason , no good at all , must be a focus of all these three departments but particularly DWS . As I write , Joburg Water with the assistance of Rand Water , are undergoing a colossal maintenance programme . Sure , it causes inconvenience , but if the maintenance is not done according to the compulsory standards of the DWS and 10400 : P we are just throwing away money that could be better spent .

Non-compliant products are criminal so one is somewhat concerned when it is pointed out that Joburg Water specified a compliant product in their tender and ended up using a non-compliant product . This was no small deal but a replacement of every piece of equipment it was meant for .

I am being vague as this is still being investigated but two things happened here . If Joburg Water was charged the compliant rate and ended up with some cheap and nasty non-compliant product , who benefitted from the difference ? The second point is , where were the inspectors ? This brings us back to the drum we have been beating for some time – lack of enforcement !

Granted this all happened before the GNU materialised only reinforcing the criminality that existed which is not new to anyone . Is this going to change under GNU ? While we certainly hope so , the Cabinet and Public Service do not have 100 days to show the industry and South Africans things are going to change .

While still in the plumbing industry we look to the official bodies , large or small , to get finalisation on one representative plumbing body that can tackle government . Yes , there is good work being done which will have a great impact on aspects of products entering our country . Yes , there is good work being done in the formation of a representative body and this and other work must come to fruition . Regarding the latter this body is taking nothing away from the individual bodies which will retain their identity , but we need the representative body urgently – like now !

The plumbing sector has always followed the call of business and government / provinces working together and fine work has and is being done by IOPSA and NRCS especially in the field of illegal geysers . But it must expand especially when DTIC seems not to appreciate compliance . using the World Trade Organisation as a reason for bringing in rubbish . An excuse proffered by some DTI worthy in the old days !

Action please ! PA

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September 2024 Volume 30 I Number 7 www . plumbingafrica . co . za

PlumbingAfrica_September 2024_Digital Plumbing Africa | Page 3

Action is the name of the game !