Housing in Southern Africa February 2015

News

DTI solar-geyser rules The solar geyser manufacturing industr y has claimed that the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) local content rules for solar geysers are too stringent and have resulted in 4 500 jobs being lost in the industry. A ccording to Democratic Al- liance Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry, Geordin have resulted in an impasse between industry and government, as supply has become nearly impossible due to the stringent local content threshold. A recent survey by the Sustainable En- ergy Society of South Africa (SESSA) has estimated that least 4 500 jobs have been lost.”

In July 2013, the Department of Trade and Industry classified low pressure solar water geysers as a ‘des- ignated product’ under government procurement rules, which in effect requires that each component of the geyser consist of 70% local content. The industry says that this local content prescription is too high, and that in fact it essentially disquali- fies all South African manufacturing companies from producing and pro- viding geysers for government’smass installation programme. With gov- ernment’s installation target of one million solar geysers installed in low cost housing by March 2015, these

Hill-Lewis, this is a serious matter since the local content programme is designed to encourage South African manufacturing and create jobs. Hill-Lewis says, “These claims must be investigated to determine if the DTI’s local content rules are harming local industry. The industry has argued that restrictive and irra- tional government procurement rules

subsequent delays, job losses and local content issues are unresolved. “In light of the energy crisis we are currently facing, and the ability of this programme to significantly reduce the pressure on the national grid, any hindrancesmust be swiftly addressed and resolved,” says Hill-Lewis. ■

February 2015