Chronicle EditorFairness Moyana in Hwange
OVER 400 refrigeration and air conditioning technicians nationwide have completed a certification process as part of efforts to regularise the sector.
The move aims to address the influx of non-professionals and enhance industry standards. The process began last year following a pilot launch at the SADC level where Zimbabwe representatives through the Heating Energy Ventilation Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Association of Zimbabwe (HEVACRAZ) were certified.
In an interview, HEVACRAZ national chairperson, Mr Cain Manyukwa said the certification exercise was meant to bring professionalism and proficiency in the safe handling of refrigerants in the face of climate change.
“The Zimbabwe certification of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technicians began last year in June when the National Ozone Unit did the pilot at Harare Polytechnic in June.
“At SADC Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Association (RAC) level certification pilot was carried out at the Regional Centre in Ongwediva Northern Namibia in March where Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana attended under the tutorship of Hennie Basson a trainer from South Africa,” said Mr Manyukwa.
He said certification is a critical component as it brings with it professionalism and proficiency in areas to do with safe handling of refrigerants and combating climate change, global warming, and ozone depletion.
“We are now migrating to the use of natural refrigerants that are flammable as well as other synthetic ones with flammable properties too, so the certification will stamp authority on who should and should not work on this,” said Mr Manyukwa.
“With certification, they shall be the classification of technicians based on categories that one belongs to so that we avoid going outside one’s depth.”
Mr Manyukwa said as part of the nationwide exercise, certification teams having covered Harare, Marondera, Rusape, Chipinge, Mutare, Chiredzi, Masvingo, Beitbridge, Gwanda, Bulawayo, Hwange, Victoria Falls, Gweru, Kwekwe and Kadoma.
They also conducted a special session for the uniformed forces. Mr Manyukwa who is also the SADC-RAC president, said the certification process which was part of regularising the sector would ensure best practices and protect the industry.
“Certification is actually what has been missing all these years because we had nothing to cement our best practices. With the coming in of SI49 of 2023 this process has become a requirement, and once the powers that be give the green light for the law to come into effect then our industry will be more than protected, and good practices can easily be achieved,” he said.
“Last week the National Ozone Unit brought together players from the industry and also the associations to frame the code of conduct and ethics for all RAC practitioners so that the industry can have order.”
The exercise will also ensure ease of doing business for technicians seeking to do business in other SADC countries as universal accreditation cards are being employed across these countries.
Mr Manyukwa expressed satisfaction with the process, saying the association is inching closer to its target of 100 percent certification.
“I am very happy that as a country we have started and I believe the trajectory taken is very correct. I am of the notion that we can better the process and polish it until it becomes the jewel that we want it to be,” he said.
“So far, it’s 420 attendees but not everyone passes, so the ones who didn’t make it will have to go through the process again.
“The target is to have every refrigeration and air conditioning practitioner certified and become compliant. Zimbabwe ratified the Kigali Amendment and Certification of RAC practitioners.”
The association is also advocating for the phasing out of refrigerants used in refrigeration and air conditioning that contributed to ozone depletion with efforts underway to recover and incentivise recovery of refrigerants instead of vending them.
HEVACRAZ which is a member of the SADC-RAC was founded in 2022. The organisation seeks to make it mandatory for practitioners to be kept abreast of new technological developments, discoveries, and innovations. The association is affiliated to the National Ozone Unit (NOU).
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