SAZ MILESTONES DURING THE PAST 50 YEARS  

1st Decade

1.  The Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ), as we know it today was formed in 1957 and incorporated in 1960 as the Standards Association of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (SARN) based at 6 - 11 Beverley House, Baker Avenue in Salisbury.

2.  In 1957, the SAZ launched its Product Mark Certification Scheme

3.  The Association then moved to Pax House, 87 Union Avenue (now Kwame Nkrumah) in 1960 before moving to Sara House on Hatfield Road in 1962.

4.  On 1^st December 1961, realizing the need to have its own testing laboratories, rather than relying on Government and private laboratories, the Association bought out Rhodesian Testing Laboratories (Pvt) Ltd with money raised from commerce and industry as the three Governments of the then Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland could not finance the purchase.

5. At an Extraordinary General Meeting held on 3 July 1964, the Association changed its name to Standards Association of Central Africa (SACA) and moved to 17 Coventry Road in Workington where its Harare laboratories and Quality Assurance Department are currently situated.  

2nd Decade

6. In 1969, the Association was able to put up its own building with monies earned from its own activities.

7. In an effort to drastically reduce the time taken for routine analyses and for the quick identification of metals, the Association acquired an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer in 1974.

3rd Decade

8. On 27 January 1978, Dr E H Williams, became the second executive director of the Association following Mr Richards' retirement from the Association having headed the organization from its inception.  

9.    In 1978, the new Building By-Laws referred to Central African specifications for over 20 products.

10.  In 1979, the Association purchased the then Umtali premises, now Mutare.

11.  During the same year, Mr R L Richards, the first director of the Standards Association died.

12.  At its 22^nd General Council meeting held on Thursday, 18 September 1980 at the Association's Salisbury premises, the Association first muted its intention to explore the possibility of joining the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

13.  In 1981, the Association acquired the Bulawayo offices.

14.  In 1981, Mr John Ware, Director of the Quality Assurance Division of the British Standards Institute visited the Association and delivered a talk on quality assurance to some 200 invited guests at the Association's premises.

15.  In February 1986, the Association hosted an international seminar on Quality Assurance and Laboratory Accreditation and Certification attended by participants drawn from Cyprus, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Mauritius. The seminar was sponsored by ISO in collaboration with the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA).

16.  During the same year, representatives of the Commonwealth Science Council and the American Presidential Delegation also visited the Association.

17.  On 1 January 1987, the Association changed its name to the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) through a special resolution signed by the then chairman, Prof. W R MacKechnie.

18.  On 1 August 1987, the Standards Development Fund (SDF) Act was established. The Act resulted in the establishment of the Standards Development Levy Fund (SDLF). Specified employers contribute a percentage of their wage bill towards the fund, which is administered by the Ministry of Industry and International Trade. SAZ is one of the beneficiaries of the fund.

19.  On 6 November 1987, SAZ General Council passed a resolution to purchase Stand 14878 in Borrowdale for purposes of constructing new buildings for the Association.  

4th Decade

20.  Work on the construction of the new SAZ building at Northridge Park, Borrowdale commenced in May 1989 with the estimated completion dated of August 1990. The construction was financed through a grant from the SDLF.

21.  In 1990, SAZ became a member body of ISO. ISO is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies currently comprising over 165 members, one in each country.

22.  In July 1992, SAZ moved into its newly constructed head office in Northridge Park, Borrowdale in Harare. 

23.  The SAZ Quality Assurance Department started management systems certification activities and certified its first ISO 9000 organization, the then BICC CAFCA on 9 July 1993.

24.  In October 1995, the then ISO Secretary General, Dr L. Eicher visited SAZ.

25.  In 1996, the Association became a signatory to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Code of Good Practice.

26.  During 1997/8, SAZ was a member of the ISO general council, the governing body of ISO.  

Towards 50.....

27.  In order to enhance its competitiveness and credibility, SAZ implemented ISO 9000 Quality Management Systems (QMS) in accordance with international standard ISO/IEC Guide 62 (General requirements for bodies operating assessment and registration of quality systems), which was subsequently accredited by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) in July 1999.

28.  In July 2000, Mrs Maureen Mutasa became the first female director general of the Association following the resignation of Engineer Paul Stanford Kupakuwana.

29.  Again in 2000, as a result of strategic planning, the Association successfully underwent an organizational restructuring exercise aimed at achieving long term cost reduction by right-sizing the organization and rationalizing the utilization of skills in order to manage a rapidly changing environment.

30.  Realizing the need to assist organizations in interpreting standards for purposes of easier implementation, SAZ established an External Training section in then Marketing & Public Relations Department in June 2000.

31.  In December 2000, the then ISO President, Professor Giacomo Elias visited SAZ.

32.  SAZ hosted a three-day ISO/TC 207 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) meeting from 20-22 January 2000.

33.  At the end of 2000, SAZ established its EMS Certification Scheme (SAZS ISO 14001), which went on to be again accredited by SANAS in 2002. As a result, certificates issued to SAZ registered organizations under the ISO 9001 and 14001 certification schemes are recognized and accepted worldwide. This facilitates access of Zimbabwean goods and services to the global markets.

34.  On 25 January 2001, SAZ certified Horizon Ventures, its first Small to Medium Enterprise (SME), to SAZS ISO 9001.

35.  At regional level, being a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), SAZ realizes the need for greater participation and representation in regional standardization work. SAZ realizes the need to continue to promote the fact that the use of harmonized standards and conformity assessment procedures offers tremendous benefits and opportunities for Zimbabwe. To this end, SAZ is a member of the SADC Cooperation in Standardization (SADC STAN) and the SADC Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA). Mrs Maureen Mutasa was SADCA chairman for three terms from 2000 - 2005. She has also chaired SADCSTAN since 2005. SADCSTAN aims to harmonize standards in the region in order to facilitate trade, whilst SADCA’s objective is to facilitate the creation of a pool of internationally recognized and acceptable accreditation laboratories, certification and inspection bodies and to provide Member States with accreditation as a tool for the removal of technical barriers to trade.

36.  In October 2002, with the continued growth in its certification business as businesses were becoming more aware of the need and importance of quality as a competitive tool in international markets, SAZ issued its 100^th ISO 9000 certificate to Rubber Products (Pvt) Limited.

37.  In 2002, SAZ became a member of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Affiliate Country Programme. IEC is responsible for standardization in the electro- technical field. Furthermore, SAZ also actively participates in Codex Alimentarius’ international standardization work on foods through the national Codex Contact Point, the Government Analyst Laboratory.

38.  In 2003, the SAZ director general, Mrs Maureen Mutasa was first appointed chairman of ISO’s policy committee for development countries (ISO DEVCO) for the 2003 - 2004 term. She then went on to be re-appointed for another two-year term in 2005 for the period 2005 - 2006.

39.  In 2004, the then SAZ director operations, Dr Oswald Chinyamakobvu was appointed chairman of ISO/TC 84 Working Group 7  -Safety Issues for Injection Needles.

40.  In its continued effort to encourage the use of standards and improve the competitiveness of Zimbabwean products, the SAZ has signed several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with local authorities and other strategic organizations, both locally and internationally. On 31 May 2004, SAZ signed its first MoU with the Congolese Control Office (OCC). To date, other MoUs have been signed with the Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS), Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), Institute of Directors Zimbabwe (IoDZ), Zimbabwe Ministry of Defence, Bulawayo City Council, Gweru City Council, Mutare City Council and Masvingo Municipality.

41.  SAZ has continued to achieve its strategic intent of increasing its own income and reducing its dependency on the SDLF. In 2005 the Association’s total income was Z$36.254 billion of which Z$22.254 billion (61%) was from its own operations with the balance of Z$14.0 billion (39%) coming from the SDLF. This is in comparison with 1991, SAZ‘s total income was Z$3.38 million of which Z$0.89 (26%) was from its own operations with the balance of Z$2.49 million (74%) was from SDLF. In 2000, SAZ generated Z$78. 483 million of which Z$47.5 million (61%) was from SDLF with the balance of Z$30.98 (39%) coming from SAZ's own operations.

42.  In an effort to improve communication and increase awareness of SAZ activities, the Association introduced stakeholder meetings in 2006.

43.  In 2006, in recognition of the SAZ director general,  Mrs Mutasa's outstanding performance during her term as ISO DEVCO chairman, the ISO general council appointed her regional liaison officer for the African region for the 2007 - 2009 term.

Let us therefore raise our glasses and toast to a wonderful list of remarkable achievements. Happy Golden Anniversary, SAZ!!