15 percent of goods in Zim shops fake: CPC

Standrick Chagadama

AT LEAST 15 percent of goods sold in most of Zimbabwe’s retail shops are fake, the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) has said.

However, this represents a reduction from an estimated 30 percent a few years ago. CPC chairperson Dr Mthokozisi Nkosi said the counterfeit products are mostly sold in boutiques, supermarkets and other retail outlets.

“The CPC’s compliance and inspection department plays a crucial role in identifying and addressing counterfeit goods.

“By working closely with other relevant authorities, such as Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority), the Zimbabwe Republic Police and other agencies like Zera (Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority), the CPC has been able to prosecute numerous offenders,” Dr Nkosi said.

“At some stage, we discovered that we had at least 30 percent of products in the market being counterfeits. The figure has since reduced to about 15 percent currently.”

The CPC believes the counterfeit products often come into the country as imported goods that are repackaged.

“You have got people repackaging or changing products, and then this results in underweight goods and stuff like that.

“In other instances, some of these products are being imported into the country.

“How they are doing that is something that we are interrogating regularly. Someone can just produce something and then they give a label that resembles a genuine product. We are continuing to investigate where they are getting the labels. In some instances, we even have television sets and cell phones with reputable labels, yet they will be bogus.”

Dr Nkosi said the CPC has conducted countrywide investigations to identify and dismantle networks involved in the sale of counterfeit products.

These efforts have led to the prosecution of individuals and businesses involved in these illegal activities.

He emphasised the importance of penalties as a deterrent for those who sell counterfeit goods.

While current penalties can be significant, the CPC is advocating even stricter measures to ensure the integrity of the marketplace.

“In terms of the penalties, it varies depending on the severity of the offence, but it can go as high as Level Four.

“In some instances, we are also seeing that some of these penalties are not deterrent enough for such culprits; hence we are also trying to lobby so that at the end of the day, we come up with penalties that ensure there is sanity in the marketplace.

“We want to make sure that offenders will feel the pinch for violating the law.”