In the 2014-15 financial year, more than R548m worth of poor quality, unsafe goods were removed from the South African market, said Asogan Moodley, CEO of the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), on Tuesday.

“These products were stopped at the ports of entry in Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London and Cape Town.” 

The NRCS was part of a delegation that briefed the portfolio committee on trade and industry on industrialisation and its linkages with trade, procurement and the drive to localise manufacturing in South Africa. 

Moodley said the body usually targets about 70% of regulated products, going through containers at port of entry. 

“We are doing our best to keep out non-compliant goods entering our borders, which are often much cheaper, but of poor quality and often unsafe,” Moodley said. “South African consumers are very price-sensitive and they’ll buy the cheaper product, regardless of quality.” 

Non-compliant products include unsafe paraffin stoves, compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), TVs and chemical products, such as detergents and cement. 

He added that the NRCS closely collaborates with the South African Revenue Services (Sars) and the police and regularly follow up on complaints – the majority of which are imported products – about non-compliant products. 

“We have confiscated huge quantities of non-compliant, unsafe products and we have leads as to where they originate from, which we are currently investigating,” Moodley said. 

The NRCS was established to protect South African consumers by setting compulsory specifications of products and services and advance local manufacturing.