The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality together with the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs yesterday (Tuesday) launched the Safer Paraffin Stoves campaign at Vusimuzi informal settlement in Tembisa.

As part of the campaign, which is intended to raise awareness on the possible dangers when using paraffin stoves, over 1 500 new safer stoves were handed to community members.

In meeting government half way to ensure safety in the informal settlement, Vusimuzi residents came in numbers to hand over their old hazardous and non-compliant stoves, in exchange for the new safer ones.

The minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, highlighted that the state is serious about safeguarding residents’ lives by excluding the suppliers of poor quality stoves that tend to contribute to the fires that often destroy informal settlements across the country.

“Each year over 200 000 people are affected by deaths caused by fires, mostly due to non-compliant appliances that are sold as a money making scheme at the expense of people’s lives and this has to stop,” said Davies.

“Government, together with the National Consumer Commission and the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications have tightened our grip to find and stop suppliers of non-compliant stoves that are illegally shipped into and manufactured in the country, he continued.

Ekurhuleni Member of Mayoral Committee for Community Safety, Clr Vivian Chauke and the minister handed over certificates to 600 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members who have been trained on how to utilise the news stoves.

CERT members will conduct face-to-face community engagements to educate residents in their respective informal settlements on the risks posed by non-compliant products and how to safely use the new stoves they have received.

Also read: Preventing and dealing with a fire 

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