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The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) together with the National Consumer Commission (NCC), the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), City of Cape Town and National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) will lead a safe paraffin appliance awareness campaign that will be hosted on Thursday, 8 December 2016 in Masiphumelele Informal Settlement in Fish Hoek, Western Cape.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies says the campaign is aimed at raising awareness about the usage of safe paraffin stoves and to eliminate poor quality stoves that contribute to fires that often devastate informal settlements across the country. 

“The campaign is also aimed at improving inter- governmental cooperation and facilitates service delivery where the provision of safe consumer goods is concerned, and enable further face-to-face community engagements to make them aware of the risks posed by non-compliant products with regards to safety, health and matters of environmental protection as well as the rights of the consumers,” says Davies.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer of NCRS, Mr Edward Mamadise says the campaign in Masiphumelele informal settlement is targeting 3 000 households which will be inspected during the door-to-door campaign. He adds that more than 3 000 safe paraffin stoves will be handed out to the community and 50 volunteers from Masiphumelele will also be trained on how to visually identify safe stoves from the market in order for them to continue with the project even after the campaign has moved to other areas.

The Commissioner of NCC Mr Ebrahim Mohamed says the campaign will ensure that consumers receive fair value for the money they spend and quality goods that are usable, durable and do not cause any harm when used for its manufactured purpose.

The partnership follows a winter campaign that was started in June 2015 by the NRCS and the NCC, aimed at educating consumers about the importance of using approved appliances such as paraffin stoves and heaters to prevent shack fires which often result in loss of lives and properties.

Issued by Department of Trade and Industry