The Zambia Bureau of Standards(ZABS) has ordered Game Stores to remove all electrical items with round pin plugs from the shelves.
This is because the pins are not compatible with the Zambian electrical system.
The directive was issued after ZABS conducted a random inspection in the shop on Tuesday.
Bureau of Standards Acting Director, Frederick Hamutunda, however says Game Stores has complied with regulations by 80 percent.
And Mr. Hamutunda has directed inspectors of goods to check all imported items for compliance.
Mr. Hamutunda says all non compliant items should be rejected at border points.
And Game Stores Manager, Rashid Abid, agreed to remove the non compliant goods from the shelves.
[ZNBC]
Good idea. Makes me feel like a proud Zambian. Thumbs up to ZABS.
This is hypocrisy. WHich Zambian doesn’t know this? This is common knowledge. Can someone please educate me on when this standards body was established. Or maybe this ZABS body is ran by foreign infestors.
South African firms including Shoprite have been selling these round plugs for over ten years and these round plugs are in every Zambian home. DO you mean to tell me that this ZABS only found out today when they did their first random visit in 10 years?. This is disgraceful and they out to be ashamed for framing the story this way ..at least they should have said something like ZABS will now start working after being asleep for over 10 years
While ! Thats how the bureau of standard is supposed to work anyway i.e making sure that no sub-stardard goods are imported in the country ,this makes to remember a story a friend of mine who lives in the states told me when he bought a very nice shirt in a chinese shop in the states,the guy was surprised to find the same type of shirt in one lusaka`s chinese shops when he visited the country and since it was the same type he decided to buy another one.He was surprised when he washed the two shirts that the lusaka one lost all the colours and was torn at many places.Incidences like these could be blamed on the bureau of stardard coz the bureau in the states makes sure that only qualitable products enters the countries borders while the opposite is true in the zambian situation.
They should hav started with the Chinese products flooding the Zambian market.
No. 2 papa J – I agree with you whole heartedly but its better late than never. The bureau itself should ensure it checks at the border.
I agree with #4,Chinese products are more’ harmful’ than those round pin plugs.
I thought Game Stores was supposed to fit a square pin plug at no extra cost to the consumer. Or they can give a free adapter. All the same, good move. I once bought an iron with a round pin plug from Game, and I was forced to buy an adapter from Shoprite because Game didn’t have them
ha ha ha good – if a bit late. 10 years late like #2 says. and if you change the plug it voids the warranty. most stuff in game is chinese rubbish
#2 You are just as disgraced as I am. SA has made so much money by selling us the converters+plug tops+ power extensions and today, this ZABS does a “random” check to see if shops are complying. What!!! are we in the same country. These guys are stupid to say the list because they have not been doing anything about it and I dont think things will change. Check game stores a month from now, you will still find them round stuff
Tesheti!! ZABS were have you been? I have a lot of burnt out round adapters in my house that I have bought to accommodate the round Game plug. I have a laptop, a kettle, a freezer, a pressing iron, 3 actually, all with the round plugs bought from Game, Shoprite and some places in town. I wish I could return them to have the square ones fitted for mahala.
Are they thinking of checking kamwala too?The problem is always with zambia. If they stop bringing gon`ga to zambia,its again the zambia poor who are the majority that wont afford.what a situation we find our selves in.
I think the round plugs are more durable… maybe we should instead switch to round plugs….
I hope you can reject all cellphones too!
This is good move from ZABS though it has been long overdue. The problem with the those round plugs is they have 16Amps fuse which consumes more power as compared to the Zambian lawfully accepted 13Amps fused ones.
#2, Papa J, ZABS was established in 1982 by an act of parliament. The operation of ZABS has many times been hampered by lack of funding, as you may know it depends on govt funding. Also incompetence in the management has been a major factor in the poor performance by ZABS.
On the other hand, this new development of shop inspections by ZABS has come at a time when a person was put in the acting position(Mr. Hams). Mr. Hams wants to show Zambians that he can make a difference at ZABS if made director.
Atase, Lelo? To hell with ZABS! For how long have we been buying electrical appliances with round pin plugs in Zambia? And why issue a directive to Game Stores alone when a hundred other outlest e.g Shoprite, Radian Stores, and many other dealers in Chinese products are selling similar stuff? ZABS has never been seen to exist at all or may be they’re toothless. And coming to think of it, why come to realize that they sales products not suitable for the Zambian Market after shelving them 4 years? I am of the idea that the Bureau of standards should inspect goods right as they enter the country not after they’ve been sold and side effects felt. Just go back & sleep we’re used to exercising our own God given ability to tell what’s suitable and what’s not! Save us the drama & rhetoric!
#5, Berlusconi Babe,
It is indeed better late than never. Most institutions in Zambia have been malfunctioning and ZABS is the chief of them all. But if ,by any means,, they wake up, let us encourage them to stay wake and make Zed a better place.
We don’t owe no body(country) nothing. Every country must xport to zed quality products that conform to Zed standards.
Now we have somebody working at the Bureau. Its better late than never. Visit Vikay along Freedom way also. I bought a Fridge from there and was exploited by being forced to buy the other type of plug from them so as to warrant garranty. This is real nosense, eh! BRAVO BS! Next should be EIZ to take on inspecting all GRZ funded projects before handover, ie roads and buildings etc. Bravo PROFESSIONALISM is back. At Zamtel, a secretary or typist is mmore important than an ENGINEER,alas the company is now collapsed.
“This is because the pins are not compatible with the Zambian electrical system”. What nonsense! How ain`t they compatible? The problem you have in Zambia is ubututu. The UK do not use round pin plugs but you can still buy them in the shops if you want.
Congratulation to the one heading the ZABS and his/her poeple .This is a step in the right direction.keep it up .Check also in all the chinese shop at kamwala.Also chech on food staff,medicine ,T.V , Fridges ,radios ,cell phones etc
What is required of ZABS now is consistence. ZABS should sweep across the whole country. It can start with Game Store, but it should not end there otherwise it will be accused of targeting Game.
Did you know that at Zed we have no standard for bicycles? Any devil of a ‘frame” is accepted as a bicycle!
Shows where Zambians are in their thinking. You knobheads do not know that one can easily get an adaptor.
#21,Magicroundabout, warm greetings!
It is not a question of adapters only, but of fuse rating as well. Read comment #14.
#22 We Can greetings to you too. I am not sure about the Amps thing. I obviously looked at the story and went with my first instinct. 16Amps or not have the Zambians been consulted? The answer is obviously a big know. Do Zambians mind? Probably not. We are a poor counrty and we will be for a very long time to come I am afraid. Do we have a choice? No! How about banning those six cylinder cars as well?
Blimey me a big no!
Spot on number 12.
Number 12. I agree with you. Even though round pins will force us to to buy round adapters, I also think they are stronger than the common pins. In as much as such work is appreciated, I think ZABS should be seriously channel their efforts to the right thngs. There are a lot of sub standard products on the market especially chinese ones. Some even harmful to human life. But they have done nothing. Game sells durable products and what should have happened was for ZABS to recommend that Games stores offers a free round pin adaptor or socket. The cost of buying a round pin adaptor or socket cannot compare to the cost of the actual goods. ZABS channel your efforts to the real work.
Also in Zed ‘Right’ never remains right. Wait till you step on big foot or nose whatever the case maybe ……Remember Tender Board and Task Force …… you need to know when to turn a blind eye. Ask Police they will tell you when and when not to deal with cadres. What a fallacy and hypocrisy!
ZAMBIA: Farmers Resort to Human Waste for Fertiliser
By Lewis Mwanangombe
Farmers dig canals like this one to lead waste water directly to their gardens.
Credit: Lewis Mwanangombe/IPS
LUSAKA, Sep 22 (IPS) – The economy’s down, the price of fertiliser’s up. And Zambian farmers are stealing sewage for their vegetable gardens.
Yes, raw sewage is a cocktail of germs that can cause life-threatening illnesses. Sanitation officials in both Lusaka and the Copperbelt province are accusing peri-urban farmers of creating epidemics by nourishing their crops with foul water and partially-decomposed human poo.
But Irene
ignorance is bad. Talking from an Electrical Engineers point of view, 15A plugs(round pins) are supposed to be encouraged when supplying power to heating elements.i.e. stoves, kettles, irons, microwaves etc. if you use the other pins, they will start heating up and they can cause worse damage.
some old houses in zambia to have round sockets and need the round plugs. this is really not necessary
We have ZABS offices at all border posts, what are they doing? Mr Hams should be seen to strengthen the border offices and officers who man them for them to do their jobs properly, not him do somebody’s job when it is too late. His acts just goes to show us how ineffective his management of ZABS will be, he is blowing a horn on his disorderly house.
A possible solution would be for Game to provide adapters free of charge. I dont see them bringing in UK PIN type appliances just for Zambia. I think there is something fishy about this whole thing. if i buy a personal appliance in the US, does it mean i cant import it into Zambia because the PIn type AND the voltage is different from that specified in the Zambian (read British) standard? Â The idea is good. Let Game give FREE british (zambian) standard BS1361, and , BS1363 adapters. See that im quoting the british standard because it is prominent and i grew up in Zambia with it. Have never heard anyone quoting the Zambian Standard.
its not right to order them to remove the appliances. What is going to happen is that they will chop off the south african round pin adapters and replace them with chinese plugs from town centre (also in the process voiding the manufacturer’s warranty)
NUMBER 14 u clearly dont know what amps are. 16 AMPS SIMPLY MEANS THE AMOUNT OF POWER THAT ROUND TOP PLUG CAN WITHSTAND BEFORE “MELTING” I THINK ROUND IS BETTER ANYWAYS
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