The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has denied a series of allegations of longstanding and ongoing corruption and mismanagement.

In an open letter sent to Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau on December 10, penned by an anonymous whistleblower, the SABS was accused of, among other things, irregular recruitment practices, board dysfunctionality, quashed whistleblower reports, inconsistency in dealing with disciplinary issues and financial misconduct.

Several open letters of this nature have been written to Tau in recent months, with little to no perceived action being taken. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has declined to comment on the matters raised by the whistleblower and others.

One of the key issues raised in the latest whistleblower letter was the allegation that questionable bonuses had been paid to executives.

“The very same executives that have been reported via so many whistleblowers have now gone and paid themselves exorbitant bonuses. 

“How on earth is this possible when the SABS is literally burning? Further to this, [the acting CEO] has not even completed four months of his term and he believes he needs a bonus. They have been getting acting allowances for years. How is it possible that they can be so greedy?” the author of the letter asks.

However, when Engineering News reached out to the SABS to confirm the bonuses, the bureau denied having paid them, stating “No performance bonuses were paid for executives nor any SABS employees in 2024”.

On December 3, Engineering News reported that several SABS executives had been suspended over the past few months and that the bureau had suffered a crippling cyber-attack despite multimillion-rand investments in cybersecurity upgrades.

“[Several executives have been] suspended, the SABS is at a standstill because of a cyberattack, accreditations are being suspended because the SABS is unable to deliver, training services are suspended because the maintenance of facilities is atrocious . . . and the leadership . . . pay themselves a bonus authorised by the board,” the whistleblower alleges.

However, the SABS is adamant that the whistleblower has an agenda to discredit the institution and its leadership for an unspecified reason.

“These claims . . . appear to be part of a deliberate effort to misrepresent the organisation and its leadership. After thorough internal reviews, we categorically state that these claims are baseless, lack context and are not supported by any credible evidence. These allegations seem intended to create a false narrative of leadership instability at the SABS,” the SABS said in response on December 12.

In a response to the SABS denial, National Assembly MP and Democratic Alliance (DA) Trade, Industry and Competition spokesperson Toby Chance said the bureau’s statement raised more questions than it answered.

He said that, among other issues, the cursory statement put out by the SABS did not address the substantive issue raised by the anonymous whistleblower of the suspension of National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) chairperson Mohola Maremela when he demanded accountability from the acting CEO.

According to the whistleblower letter, the union at the SABS has been very vocal about the alleged corruption and calling for the heads of the executives. However, this has been met with swift reprisal from SABS leadership.

“The SABS has invested more money and resources in trying to find the whistleblowers than in dealing with the allegations of maladministration, corruption, dysfunction or in dealing with the cyberattack.

“The SABS has responded by suspending [Maremela] and threatens employees who speak out. The internal channels for reporting whistleblowing are compromised [and the current executive leadership] squash all legitimate concerns,” the letter stated.

“Maremela and other Nehawu officials were suspended after they went to the office of the acting CEO on [December 10] to protest ongoing governance issues which have plagued the institution for years. To date, we have no public explanation for the suspension of a person seeking accountability and answers,” Chance pointed out.

Nonetheless, the SABS is adamant that any allegations of whistleblower silencing was “patently false”.

“The SABS has adopted policies and procedure to protect whistleblowers. However, it must be noted that with a plethora of allegations that have been levelled against the SABS, there is no one who has come forward to the SABS as a whistleblower to test the veracity of the SABS’ policies.

“Be that as it may, the SABS confirms its commitment to the protection of whistleblowers in line with its policies and procedures,” the bureau told Engineering News.

However, Chance was unconvinced.

“The suspension of Maremela and the other Nehawu officials for demanding action from the acting CEO shows SABS top management is determined to silence attempts by affected SABS staff to hold them to account, notwithstanding the strenuous and hardly credible denials contained in today’s statement issued by the SABS,” he said.

Chance said it had become clear that a culture of fear had infested the SABS such that staff were now afraid to speak out lest they be suspended, threatened and victimised.

He said the DA has also learned that significant resources were being spent in trying to identify whistleblowers rather than dealing with the issues that the whistleblowers raise.

However, the SABS, again, has denied these claims.

“Allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement at the SABS have never been substantiated. None of the persons who are sponsoring such allegations have assisted the SABS, the executive authority or law enforcement agencies by presenting a speck of evidence to enable appropriate action. Therefore, these allegations remain allegations,” the SABS told Engineering News.

Allegations have also been made that the SABS Audit and Risk Committee, which is meant to be a guard against internal corruption, had been merged with the human resources (HR) and remuneration committee in breach of normal governance standards, a claim that the SABS also denies.

The SABS said the audit and risk committee and the human capital social and ethics committee are two separate committees of the board.

“These latest events come as accusations abound that the recent cyber-attack on mission-critical IT systems [at the SABS] were self-inflicted by executives trying to cover their tracks after a series of senior staff suspensions, procurement irregularities and loss of South African National Accreditation System accreditation of the SABS cement labs,” Chance said.

The whistleblower similarly alleged that the cyber-attack was an attempt to cover up irregularities.

“The biggest concern [regarding the cyber-attack] is that the illegal supply chain transactions are ‘lost’,” the letter said.

However, the SABS said that, at this point, it would be premature to conclude that there has been any loss of client data. Currently, the cyber-incident is being investigated by the State Security Agency.

The whistleblower alleged that, since August, five laboratories have been added to the SABS supplier network, where payments have been made (totalling millions of rands but made in smaller amounts) for work that could not logically have started because the verification of these suppliers had not yet taken place. 

“When these issues are raised, employees are threatened with suspensions. Is it any wonder that, in October, a new head of supply chain . . . was appointed and payments were made to these laboratories out of process and out of policy?” the whistleblower said.

Chance called on Tau to immediately appoint an independent investigation into the SABS with powers to subpoena witnesses, including board members, executives, staff and suppliers, to give evidence.

“Should the investigation reveal complicity by board members and senior executives, Tau should not hesitate to place the SABS under administration and remove the board from office,” he said.