Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies has appointed three senior Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) officials as co-administrators of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), which he placed under administration on June 28 after dissolving the SABS board.
The co-administrators have been granted all the powers, and will perform all the duties, necessary for the functioning of the standard-setting body and will remain in place from July 2, 2018, to January 30, 2019.
They have also been charged with producing a diagnostic report and turnaround action plan for the troubled institution.
Davies has identified DTI group COO Jodi Scholtz, industrial development division deputy director-general Garth Strachan and technical infrastructure institutions chief director Dr Tshenge Demana as the administrators.
Late last month, Davies dissolved the SABS board with immediate effect, owing to its failure to exercise its fiduciary duties in terms of the Standards Act and the Public Finance Management Act.
The Minister said he acted after receiving numerous complaints regarding a lack of service delivery by the SABS and considering “unpersuasive” written and oral representations from board members.
He also highlighted the SABS’s alleged complicity in the approval of coal for Eskom from the Gupta-family-linked mining company, Tegeta.
The SABS had failed to perform in line with its mandate, Davies said in a statement.
He added that he had lost confidence in the board’s ability to manage the entity effectively.