The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) says it needs billions of Rands to be able to rebuild and modernise its aging infrastructure.

The organisation responsible for setting and maintaining the country’s quality standards is looking to partner with development finance institutions and international funders to secure investment for its just under 30 laboratories.

SABS has faced years of instability and has been without a permanent Chief Executive Officer since 2018.

Acting Chief Operating Officer Thabo Sepury says: “Remember that the laboratories do not run in open spaces and therefore you need the entirety of the overall infrastructure to be also modernized to be able to house these laboratories. And for that we need an additional financial assistance just to make sure that as the subs or as we build the subs of the future, we are then able to ensure that we modernise on all fronts. So overall, which is why we say because of this huge capital requirements from our own fiscals, we are aware that we will not be able to meet that heavy load.”