Audit FAQs

SIZA does not prescribe when sites must have their first audit after registration on the SIZA Platform.  A site can remain a provisional member of SIZA on the system until it has a 3^rd-party audit.  It is strongly advised that a new member has a full third-party audit conducted within one year from registration. This gives the member adequate time to prepare and to get ready to be audited. During this period, SIZA will have provided the member with enough guidance and benchmarking assistance to have an audit conducted.

After the audit, the site becomes a full member as its SAQ information will have been verified in the audit process.  The site then gets into the SIZA Audit Frequency cycle. There is no prejudice to growers in being a provisional member.

The next audit of these sites will be based on the SIZA Audit Frequency Matrix and depends on the number of non-compliances which have not been completed and signed off as agreed to in the Corrective Action Plan Report. After the final date for completing non-compliances has passed, the site will be sent a letter indicating its risk rating and when their next audit will be due.

SIZA Environmental members can schedule either a stand-alone SIZA Environmental 3^rd-party audit or a combined 3^rd-party audit with GLOBALG.A.P. via the MySIZA platform. When opting for the combined solution Environmental audit, an audit company that is registered to do both GLOBALG.A.P. IFA and SIZA Environmental audits needs to be selected. Currently, the following audit companies are approved to conduct combined solution environmental audits:

• BSI Group South Africa
• Control Union South Africa
• NSF Africa
• SGS South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Due to global market requirements, all audit firms and auditors will need to be registered with the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA). The auditor and audit firm’s registration number must be visible on all Audit Reports. Audit firms, as well as auditors have to comply with the SIZA competency requirements before they will be recognised to audit on behalf of the SIZA programme. 

The companies to choose from are the following:

• BSI Group South Africa (Pty) Ltd
• Control Union South Africa (Pty) Ltd
• NSF Africa (Pty) Ltd
• Partner Africa
• SGS South Africa (Pty) Ltd
• ELEVATE

To maintain independence and credibility of the audit process, it is not possible for suppliers to choose an auditor. Additionally, an auditor may only audit a specific site twice before they will have to be rotated.

As from the 1st of October 2016, only ethical audits done by Tesco approved audit firms will be accepted. Tesco approved audit companies from January 2024.