The Duferco steel-processing company struggling since the closure of Saldanha Steel. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/ African News Agency (ANA) Archives
By Charles Dednam
With good, affordable housing underpinning critical social, economic, poverty and health challenges, the lack of regulation in the roofing and cladding industry implies a lack of concern by authorities for the millions of people who inhabit and build makeshift structures comprising inferior thin-gauge steel materials.
We have seen the tragic consequences such as in 2020, when 78 shacks were destroyed in a raging fire in Sydenham, Johannesburg, and in yet another fatal blaze in Atlantis in the Cape Peninsula.
With raging storms and floods devastating parts of the country, I am extremely fearful that if we don’t hasten the development of compulsory specifications for roofing and cladding, in accordance with the procedures and requirements of the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) CSP 350, the organisation that controls implementation of the country’s National Building Regulations, the likelihood is that many more lives will be lost.
The formal building sector using metal cladding is not a heightened concern at this stage, regulated as it is by the National Building Regulations and other national standards, but the informal sector (including rural areas), is exempt from the compliances. This has given rise to the dumping of imported low-priced and inferior corrugated steel products in the domestic market, a situation which is further compromised by the lack of testing and test results not being vetted by any organisation under the Sans (South African National Standards) Regulations.
These are products picked up and sold by unscrupulous providers and builders’ merchants to emerging contractors, builders and DIY-ers. The suppliers have little to no knowledge of the structural performance, durability or compatibility of the products they sell; price is invariably the only criterion. Exacerbating this is that most of the end-users are technically unskilled in installation of cladding and roofing systems, which applies equally to the inspection and watchdog authorities.
The extreme seriousness of this is made clear when you consider that the shack population is estimated to be between five million and 13 million. Regardless, shack building is growing at an alarming rate given the lack of affordable housing, an economy under threat of recession, high unemployment, and rising inflation and interest rates, and all the other escalations resulting from the Covid pandemic that impact on the cost and quality of living.
The South African Iron and Steel Institute has, consequently, engaged and partnered with the South African Metal Cladding and Roofing Association (Samcra), which shares our view that there is a compelling case for the implementation and compulsory enforcement of mandatory Sans for profiled roofing and cladding, as well as testing for all imported and locally produced products. Without market surveillance and regulation of the industry, the quantities of unsafe roofing and cladding materials that are being imported and distributed in our country remain unknown, but we do know that some imports are entering our market at below scrap value.
We are appealing to the NRCS to immediately implement corrective measures, which can be applied as specified under its Act no 5 of 2008, and Sections 2 (a) and (b) that essentially cater for the provision of a legal framework for the administration and maintenance of compulsory specifications in the interests of public health and safety, or for environmental protection in the Republic.
Also under the act is Section 13 (1); (a) whereby the minister may, by notice in the Government Gazette, declare a Sans or provision of a Sans, to be a compulsory specification. By declaring Sans for profiled roofing and cladding to be a compulsory specification and the enforcement and maintenance thereof, is the only means whereby industry stakeholders will be compelled to submit samples for safety-compliance testing, and which can be applied to all imported and locally manufactured roofing and cladding products.
The only headway we have made is that the South African Bureau of Standards has finally agreed to a revision of its outdated 1991 code of practice for metal cladding, and the NRCS has certified that coil used in the manufacture of metal cladding must carry an indelible mark at regular intervals containing the manufacturer’s name, metal thickness, grade of steel, description and thickness of coatings. We are also aware that Sans 1273, which covers fasteners for roof and wall coverings, is being reviewed. These are but small achievements when you consider the bigger picture.
The inertia by government authorities to address and recognise the need for regulation in the metal cladding industry cannot continue. It has an obligation to protect the health and safety of its vulnerable citizens and to ensure the sustainability of an industry threatened by non-conforming, poor quality products. Not to do so is dire neglect and another serious threat to the growth and development of the South African steel industry.
* Charles Dednam is from the South African Iron and Steel Institute.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Independent Media or IOL.