South African consumers may be unknowingly purchasing dangerous electrical products due to weak regulations and insufficient market oversight. Safehouse warns that many products on retail shelves fail to meet basic safety standards, with the illicit trade estimated at R100 billion. Find out how to identify safe products and what’s being done to address this widespread problem.
Many South African consumers assume that if an electrical product is sold in a store, it has been properly vetted and is safe to use, but that trust may be misplaced. According to voluntary electrical safety association Safehouse, South Africa has no reliable national statistics on electrical product compliance, while independent industry testing continues to reveal alarmingly high failure rates among products on retail shelves. Safehouse warned that the problem is compounded by the NRCS not publicly identifying non-compliant products, which leaves consumers at unnecessary risk.
“Without ongoing quality control, the risk of undetected non-compliance increases significantly, creating a system that can be exploited by certain importers and unscrupulous local manufacturers to sell a wide range of products under a single approval certificate.” The association further noted that many electrical products currently on retail shelves fail to meet basic safety standards. While non-compliance is not always immediately visible or instantly dangerous, such products can pose serious risks over time. “More concerning is the systemic threat of South Africa’s illicit electrical goods trade and the far-reaching consequences it has on consumer safety, economic stability and industrial sustainability,” it stated.
