200 companies SAZ certified

saz_logo-min

Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
THE Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) is working on a National Standardisation Strategy to ensure common standards are applied on locally manufactured goods to protect consumers from uncertified products.

The national standards body has indicated that only 200 companies in the country are certified for meeting various standards.

SAZ acting director Mr Cyril Siringwani told Business Chronicle that they were pinning their hopes on a National Quality Standards Authority currently being worked on which will compel businesses to certify their products.

“We are in the process of coming up with a National Standardisation Strategy and we have gone to every stakeholder to ask them about the kind of standards they would want. This is important because we can plan for three years to come and we are in the process of consolidating the strategy and we hope by end of the first quarter we will be done,” he said.

Mr Siringwani said SAZ is conducting countrywide training of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) so that they understand importance of standardisation.

“There are only 200 companies that are certified. This is a small number and we hope to see the graph increasing after the enactment of the National Quality Standards Authority,” he said.

“Currently, we are training SMEs in external markets. We have held training across the country, in Plumtree and other areas as we have covered all provinces creating awareness and we hope with support we can continue doing that.”

He said the national standards association was aware of some illicit dealings where consumers were exposed to dangerous products such as bottled water.

Some unscrupulous individuals pick up used bottles that they refill with tap water and sell as bottled water.

He warned consumers to check on the seals of any packaged product as well as checking if the container is certified.

“The public must be conscious about what they buy. When buying a product, it’s important to check if it’s certified and whether the supplier is a certified organisation. Some systems are certified but their products are not, so it is best to deal with certified organisations,” added Mr Siringwani.

SAZ, the only certified national association in Southern Africa, according to Mr Siringwani, will be hosting an Africa Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) conference in Victoria Falls early next month.

Several issues including standardisation and certification of products in Africa will be discussed.

@ncubeleon

 

You Might Also Like

Comments