Dear Editor
After years of instability, the newly appointed South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) Board must immediately begin repairs to the broken entity.
The DA will monitor the new Board’s work closely, as the SABS is a crucial institution entrusted with ensuring that all manufactured products in our country are safe for use.
The SABS has been in the news for all the wrong reasons since August 2024, when whistleblowers began exposing allegations of misgovernance, mismanagement and corruption. A ransomware cyber-attack in November crippled many of the SABS’ critical systems, procurement procedures appear to have been flouted and many of the whistleblowers have been suspended, they claim, to intimidate them into keeping quiet.
After pressure from the DA, in February Minister Tau appointed TSU International to conduct an independent investigation into these allegations. Their report is due to be submitted to Tau at the end of June and is expected to recommend sweeping changes to the way the SABS is managed.
The new board cannot delay any longer acting on the DA’s call for senior executives at the SABS implicated by whistleblowers to be put on precautionary suspension while it concludes the appointment of a permanent CEO, a position that has been vacant since July 2018.
The DA will request the Chair of the Portfolio Committee to invite the new board to meet with it at the earliest opportunity so we can put questions to them on how they plan to turn the SABS around.
Regards
Toby Chance MP
DA Spokesperson on Trade, Industry & Competition