15/07/2004 07:24 - (SA)

Antoinette Slabbert

Pretoria - A showdown is looming after the announcement of plans to abolish electricity-compliance certificates.

These wiring certificates are of key importance to ensure that electricity in residential homes, for instance, is safe for use.

All houses built after 1994 have to have such a certificate, and the seller has to supply one with the sale of renovated fixed property.

The certificates are issued by electricians with wiring licences, and declare that electrical installations on the premises are safe.

The Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) is taking the labour minister to court to set aside regulations that make such certificates compulsory.

Independent inspection authorities, at present the public's only recourse when they encounter problems, will also then be abolished.

Mark Palmer, an independent inspector accredited by the labour department and also a respondent in the court case, said the abolishment of these regulations could cause chaos.

The public already was being exposed to life-threatening situations on a daily basis because of the wheelings and dealings that went with the issuing of these certificates.

Santa Roberts, a portfolio manager responsible for more than 30 residential complexes (more than 1 200 living units), said problems with wiring were at the order of the day, even in new buildings.

Owners could not get compliance certificates as they were needed, and an electric contractor said he would profit more from having himself liquidated than by fixing mistakes at his own cost.

The labour department holds the owner or resident responsible for the safety of a building or unit.

When buyers complain to the department about false certificates, the department merely forces them to secure the building at their own cost.

The cost of this exercise must be claimed in a civil court case, something not many people are keen to do.

Monwabisi Maclean, acting communications chief of the labour department, will urgently inform Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana about the situation.

Palmer and his colleague in Pretoria, Deon Venter, are accusing the ECA of deliberately slowing down the publication of sorely needed regulations to retain their income source, namely control of the Electrical Contractors' Council (ECC).

The ECA is an employers' organisation representing electrical contractors, while the ECC comprises a database which has to register all contractors for an annual fee.

The ECA takes care of the administration of the ECC for a fee, and the two organisations share staff and offices.

Spokespeople for both the ECA and the ECC said they realised there were problems with the structure and were planning a meeting with all parties in September.

There are 88 cases of fraud against electrical contractors being investigated in Pretoria alone.

Edited by Iaine Harper