Democratic Alliance (DA) member of Parliament Toby Chance on April 7 visited the premises of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), in Pretoria, to create awareness about allegations of misconduct at the State-owned certification agency.

Holding a copy of Engineering News & Mining Weekly with a cover story outlining a recent cyberattack at the entity and allegations made by whistleblowers in recent months, Chance expressed concern about allegations that documents were being shredded and evidence removed.

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau in February tasked forensic firm TSU International to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration at the SABS, with Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition also having visited the entity in April and expressing concern about the agency’s inability to carry out basic functions such as product testing.  

Chance has urged the TSU to expedite its investigation.

Chance has been receiving whistleblower accounts of disturbing issues at the SABS for a while, having addressed multiple letters to Tau and other Department of Trade, Industry and Competition officials urging for a closer look at the organisation.

He says there have been deliberate efforts to cover up and destroy evidence, including documents that could have been crucial to the ongoing investigation into governance and management failures at SABS. This while there have also been laboratory failures and the destruction of materials, as well as loss of accreditation of SABS’s cement labs.

Chance has called on Tau to suspend top executives at the SABS, since all of the allegations that have surfaced since August 2024 have pointed to the top management members of SABS. He also urged that urgent new management appointments were necessary, including a permanent CEO, to restore the viability and stability of the institution.

SABS has reportedly been without a permanent CEO for four years, could still not access all of its IT systems as of February 5 and remains unable to achieve minimal performance standards as the custodian of standards in the country.

Chance in September last year told Engineering News that some executives at the SABS were more concerned with finding whistleblowers and victimising suspects, as well as covering up acts of wrongdoing.

There were also issues around tenders and appointments, which were not following proper process, Chance said.

He is quoted in an article in Engineering News in February as saying that whistleblower SABS employees were still being suspended and facing disciplinary proceedings.

Chance said a culture of fear had infected the entity ever since the whistleblower accusations first surfaced in August last year.

The TSU report is expected to be issued at the end of May.

The SABS continues to maintain that the allegations are baseless and that it supports the TSU investigation.

In a statement issued in December, SABS said the allegations against it lacked substantive evidence and appeared to be part of a deliberate effort to misrepresent the organisation and its leadership.

After an internal review, SABS found that it adhered to merit-based and transparent recruitment practices, that its board was legally constituted and compliant with all governance requirements and that whistleblowing reports were not suppressed or ignored. 

“Despite persistent misinformation campaigns aimed at derailing our progress, we continue to rebuild and strengthen the organisation. We welcome any legitimate inquiries and will cooperate fully with appropriate processes or investigations,” the SABS stated.