The DA in Mpumalanga is concerned that the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality (GMM) may be exposing residents to radiation via the new electricity smart meters.
The DA suspects these meters were not approved by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS).
The municipality is installing electricity smart meters in households throughout GMM. The DA alleges the new meters lack an SABS accreditation certificate.
“We have therefore decided to call for the immediate halt of the installation of these meters and the establishment of an ad-hoc committee in council.
“The municipality must also reveal the reasons why they used an unaccredited product to roll out a municipal-wide project,” said DA Clr Teboho Sekaledi.
Sekaledi claims that after several complaints in 2020, this specific brand of electricity meters was unapproved in SA and that the SABS eventually confirmed through the media that they did not have the said company on their database.
“Despite the DA’s attempt to access the accreditation certificate for these meters, we have not been able to attain it from the municipality.
“Instead, they provided us with a test report that does not and cannot be regarded as a legal document of accreditation based on SABS standards.
“As the DA, we are concerned that these unapproved and unaccredited smart meters may be giving off radiofrequency (RF) radiation that would be difficult to monitor, leading to increased cancer risk,” said Sekaledi.
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Sekaledi said that given the uncertainties surrounding the accreditation and the regulatory compliance of those meters, the DA believes it is in the best interest of the residents in the municipality to suspend any further installations.
Sekaledi also said as the DA, they have maintained that safety is a non-negotiable point, and the municipality must not compromise lives.
“As it stands, there have been multiple complaints on the rapid rollout of these meters, and these complaints can only be remediated with the provision of the approved accreditation certificate by the SA regulatory body, SABS,” said Sekaledi.
The GMM communications department said the municipality will respond in the following publication.
