South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) acting CEO Lungelo Ntobongwana has said work is underway to make South Africa’s compact hexagonal plug standard the country’s main socket configuration.
Officially called SANS 164–2, and affectionately dubbed “ZA Plug” or “the new plug” despite being decades old, the standard has been semi-mandatory for new buildings since 2018.
Wiring code amendments introduced in 2016 and enacted in 2018 made it so each electrical outlet in a new building must have at least one socket that can accommodate a ZA Plug.
Outlets were still allowed to include other sockets, including the old triangle-shaped one with fat, round pins.
South Africa’s wiring code was further amended in 2020 to make ZA Plug mandatory for all new buildings.
“According to the wiring code, every socket-outlet must comprise of a SANS 164–2 configuration in all new buildings, irrespective of the purpose of the building,” Ntobongwana said.
He noted that there is no compulsory specification requiring households or businesses to replace old sockets or fit new plugs in appliances.
“Buildings that were constructed before 2020 will still have the old configurations, according to SANS 164–1,” said Ntobongwana.
“There will still be products available and adapters available during the transition to SANS 164–2.”
South Africa’s switch to a new plug standard began nearly 40 years ago with an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard called IEC 60906–1, which began its life as IEC–906–1 in 1986.
The aim was to standardise plugs and sockets for 250 Volt systems around the world.
According to the late Gianfranco Campetti, former chair of the technical committee responsible for South Africa’s plug and socket standards, South Africa was seduced into believing it could take a step out of the morass of history.
“The standard was called ‘the international plugs and socket system,’” he said.
“Parliamentarians surrounding these decisions saw this as an opportunity of getting into Africa with an international standard that everyone would have to comply with.”
Commercial and political interests caused the standardisation initiative to fail in Europe. Brazil and South Africa were the only countries to have adopted the standard.
However, Brazil deviated from the standard by delivering 127V and 220V mains using the same socket.
By the time it became clear that Europe was not going to adopt the IEC standard, South Africa was already too invested in it.
South Africa also held out hope that we would be able to promote the adoption of the standard throughout Africa through SADC.
Talk of adopting the new standard began in South Africa in 1993, and by 2006 the SANS 164–2 standard was approved. Its first mention in the wiring code only came six years later.
Despite being left in the lurch by the international community, adopting the new standard has several benefits for South Africa.
Chiefly, the new plug standard is more compact, allowing more sockets to fit on a single outlet and reducing the need for stacked multiplugs.
This makes them safer, especially given the proliferation of substandard multiplugs in South Africa.
Another safety benefit is the thinner pins, making it difficult for children to stick their fingers in open sockets.
Additionally, the new plugs are expected to eventually be cheaper than our current IEC Type M plug.
You will also no longer need an adapter for devices that use a double-insulated two-prong Europlug, like chargers for mobile devices.
While the SABS is working with partners to encourage adoption of the standard, Ntobongwana emphasised that they have no regulatory or inspection authority.
He said South Africa’s old plug configurations may continue to be used for a long time.
“The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) has the authority to amend compulsory specifications to align with the wiring code,” he explained.
Ntobongwana said the SABS’ Technical Committee for the standards was working with the NRCS to amend its compulsory specifications and make SANS 164–2 the main configuration for South Africa.
Asked if the SABS could give a sense of the uptake of ZA Plug, Ntobongwana said that based on the testing and certification services they conduct on the new plug types, they could see a gradual shift.
“It will certainly take time for the market to completely adopt the new plug and socket configurations,” he said.
Ntobongwana said some appliances, like hair dryers and hair cut machines, and power tools such as grinders and bore machines, are fitted with the new plugs.
However, kitchen appliances, such as fridges, microwaves, toasters, ovens, and electric kettles, are still fitted with the old plugs.
Ntobongwana said the SABS, through the technical committee, is continually promoting and liaising with suppliers and manufacturers to ensure they implement the new plug type.
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