THE SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) has defended itself as the entity faces an independent investigation into its affairs. The probe is expected to be completed at the end of next month.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau commissioned the investigation following serious allegations of deteriorating standards at the entity for which his department is responsible.
The SABS this week explained that its management has been instrumental in investigating instances of malfeasance and corruption.
"This has been evidenced by the numerous investigation reports and status updates provided by management to the investigators," the entity explained.
DA MP Toby Chance said the SABS is the custodian of the country's quality systems.
"That means that products from cement to car parts to electronic appliances all have to be certified for use not just by South Africans but by people who buy these products if they are being exported.
The concerns that have been raised relate to the breakdown in systems, laboratories, the destruction of material, the loss of accreditation for example of the cement lab which still has not been reimposed, also computer systems that are not maintained, last November there was a very serious cyber attack," he said.
Chance called for Tau to immediately suspend the SABS executives implicated after evidence emerged of the destruction of documents that could be crucial to the ongoing investigation into governance and management failures at the institution.
In response to the criticism, the SABS said that in terms of its document management procedures documents are to be kept for five years and may be destroyed after this period.
"Documents from the 2011 and 2012 financial years were shredded in terms of the document management procedure of the SABS, which is aligned to legislation, in the normal course of business.
These documents are older than 12 years and were created before any of the executives which are the subject of the investigation joined the SABS, the earliest of which joined the SABS in the 2019 financial year (2018 calendar year)," the entity said this week.
Chance added that the removal of senior executives implicated in the allegations is a necessary precautionary step to prevent any further tampering or destruction of evidence vital to the investigation.
According to the SABS, all documents requested by the investigators from the unit involved have been handed over to the investigators and there has been full co-operation.
"There has been no attempt to cover up anything by management and there has been complete transparency and co-operation by management with the investigation process," the entity stated.
Chance said the National Assembly's portfolio committee on Trade, Industry and Competition has not been appraised of the progress of the investigation into the challenges facing the SABS.
"The investigators are expected to submit their report to Minister Tau by 31st May. The committee will insist that he makes it public and the DA will invoke the Promotion of Access to Information Act if necessary," he said.
Chance conducted an oversight visit to the SABS head office in Tshwane. According to Chance, the SABS is the custodian of the country's quality systems.
"That means that products that are cement to car parts to electronic appliances all have to be certified for use not just by South Africans but by people who buy these products if they are being exported."
In February, Tau appointed TSU International's Elsje Oosthuizen following a whistleblower's report detailing allegations of negligence in infrastructure maintenance, outdated information technology systems, procurement and recruitment irregularities and flawed governance processes.
Subsequent to the report, the SABS was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack in November and this revealed inadequate disaster recovery measures that are in place to deal with such attacks.
Chance said instead of addressing the deficiencies identified by the whistleblowers, employees have reportedly faced intimidation. "Junior staff and middle management have borne the brunt of disciplinary actions, while senior executives have evaded accountability," he explained.
Chance said during this week he was shown video footage of documents being shredded, which suggested attempts to remove the paper trail that could identify the culprits.
He continued: "Due to the sensitive nature of this evidence, which I became aware of on Thursday, it was not shared on social media platforms".
Chance has informed Oosthuizen, who is investigating the allegations of governance and management failures at the SABS, about the document shredding.