SABS is short for South African Bureau of Standards.
Here is a note from Simon Dart at Elster South Africa, published with his consent:
Hi Marinus
Compliance to South African Standards is completed through the RCC (Regulatory Compliance) process today. This replaced the old SABS process but is still run by the same department at NRCS.
With Eskom as a major client all products we sell to them are RCC registered. In addition Elster Solutions has ISO9001 QMS and can supply meters in accordance with IEC 17025 calibration – this is the highest international QMS standard for metering and also an Eskom requirement.
Regards
Simon Dart
Managing Director
Elster Solutions (Pty) Limited
Divisional Manager sub-Sahara Africa
Elster BU-E Electricity
Off:- +27 (0)11 699 0430
Cell:- +27 (0)82 049 6620
Email:- simon.dart@elster.com

So, it seems that the term "SABS approved" in the strictest sense of the word, even for electricity meters, is obsolete. Elster does comply with all the modern equivalent standards in South Africa.
Here are some more certificates sent through by Simon:
http://www.pnpscada.com/Elster/rcccertsandqmscerts.zip