National standards organisation the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ), in Limpopo.

The MoU sets out the collaborative relationship between the SABS and MMSEZ in terms of conformity assessments, access to standards and the provision of training services, as and when a need arises.

“By focusing on quality management, training, conformance assessments and holding suppliers to conform to South African National Standards (SANS), the MMSEZ is positioning itself for long-term sustainability, which will lead to improving the lives and livelihoods of South Africans,” says SABS customer partnering divisional head Lungelo Ntobongwana.

“The SABS looks forward to including the MMSEZ as one of the South African companies to collaborate with, to enable economic transformation through provision of conformity assessment services and compliance to prevailing guidelines contained in SANS,” he adds.

The intent of the agreement is for the SABS and MMSEZ to collaborate and find beneficial business and scientific solutions that can be commercialised in partnership with academic institutions in Limpopo province, such as the University of Limpopo, University of Venda and the Vhembe Technical and Vocational Education and Training College, says MMSEZ CEO Lehlogonolo Masoga.

“The potential for quality management and conformity assessments can be implemented from the raw material used in our infrastructure, to implementing systems and processes, and in the future, when we are ready to market the products that are developed by the MMSEZ,” he adds.

The focus of the MMSEZ is to foster industrial development, through the development of an SEZ to promote manufacturing, agroprocessing and the logistics sector.

The South African government, in an effort to reposition itself in the world economy, established the Industrial Development Zones (IDZ) programme. The programme’s main focus was to attract foreign direct investment and export of value-added commodities.

While MMSEZ is still in its inception phase, it has embarked on a path of ensuring that quality management and compliance with SANS is embedded into the culture, Masoga says.