peter
Garikayi Chipfunde, Sunday News Correspondent
HOLDING a small packet of meat, feeling cheated and doubting if it is the right quantity for her hard-earned money, Mrs Selina Dube (not real name) looked inquisitively at the young woman by the till as she gave her a two-rand coin as change after getting a palm size piece of meat.
She wanted to leave the small packet by the till point but somehow, she paid for it and resignedly stepped out of the butchery heading to the kombis along 6th Avenue.Such is just a tip of the iceberg of some nasty experiences that the consuming public is exposed to often times as they struggle to get value for their money in an economy that has blatant disregard for the rights and welfare of the consumers.
The health and safety, economic, social and cultural, even physical and psychological benefits of the consumer are undermined by the desire for economic gain and profiteering. Scales are tampered with, price marking in supermarkets tell a different story to the one in the system, exchange rate is not followed and at times consumer rights are completely disregarded.
Several products and services have been provided without paying due regard to the different circumstances of people for instance persons with disabilities, children, the ill, elderly, pregnant and breastfeeding women, among others.
The National Disability Policy of Zimbabwe, obliges producers of goods and services not to discriminate or marginalise persons with disabilities when producing products, devices, services and even physical environments among others to ensure they also have access and enjoy those products and environments on an equal basis with others.Besides issues pertaining to persons with disabilities, there are a lot of challenges that the consumer is exposed to.
Several consumers indicate that they are not only being short-changed by providers of goods and services, but also exposed to health risks among others.
“It’s either you are harassed, assaulted or denied access or choice of the product or services that you require just because you are a consumer, you have no say,” complained one consumer.
He added, “I produced a US$5 note to pay for bus fare in a commuter omnibus, which was supposed to be US$0,50. The conductor gave me change all in local currency at a rate he decided and it ended like that.”
In some cases, products have gone beyond expiry dates, but they are still on the shelves.
Another worse scenario is food adulteration, which is achieved either by reducing the quantity and quality of ingredients that form a product and sell it at a lower price.Unscrupulous businesspeople usually do this when they cannot justify price increases.
This is why a normal loaf of bread which is supposed to weigh 700 grammes is reduced to either 550 or 600 grammes, which is actually the case in most shops.
For meat, it’s just a scale showing either 2kg when you say you want 2kg or 5kg, yet in reality, you are given quantities below that which is indicated by the scale.
Director of the National Metrology Institute, who is also the chairperson of the Trade Measures Board, and current deputy chairperson of the Intra Africa Metrology System (AFRIMETS), Mr Matthew Ranganai encouraged businesspeople to ensure that all measuring equipment for trade should be approved before use by Trade Measures.
“It is important for traders to know that all the measuring equipment they use for trade purposes must be approved and calibrated by Trade Measures first to ensure accuracy, precision and proper functioning before they start using them,” said Mr Ranganai, adding that use of faulty or tampered with measuring equipment was unfair trade practice that compromises and prejudices consumers of their hard-earned income.Mr Ranganai emphasised the calibration of equipment to produce quality, standardised, safe and healthy products which he said was also good for the environment.
“Using approved measurement system supports quality, standardisation and competitiveness of Zimbabwean products. It promotes fairness in trade, consumer protection, health and safety of both human and animal life as well as protect the environment,” he said.
There are also bad scenarios in various trades such as public transport, insurance and funeral services, cellphone sales and repair services among others where some consumers of goods and services are sometimes harassed, ill-treated and short-changed.
In most cases, these behaviours are not only unpalatable but misguided, uncalled for and even unlawful in most circumstances.
These social justice issues are the reason for several legal and human rights provisions that seek to protect consumers who have long been living at the mercy of unscrupulous individuals and organisations involved in the provision of goods and services.
John F Kennedy who is renowned to have defined the vision for consumer rights once said, “All of us are consumers. All of us deserve the right to be protected against fraudulent or misleading advertisements and labels . . . the right to be protected against worthless drugs and other products…”
Kennedy’s vision inspired a lot of work on consumer rights leading to the formulation of the United Nations Guidelines on Consumer Protection which has been revised several times and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the belief that a strong legal and regulatory framework was necessary for improved consumer welfare, public interest and dynamic economic growth.The objectives of the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection are meant to provide assistance to countries to be able to establish adequate consumer protection mechanisms, ethical code of conduct and practices for producers and distributors of goods and services at national and international levels as well as ensuring the development of market conditions that promote consumer choice at reasonable and affordable prices among many others.
The Government of Zimbabwe has responded positively to the international call for consumer rights protection by putting in place mechanisms to promote, protect, fulfil and respect consumer rights and welfare.
There is a Consumer Protection Commission in place established by the Consumer Protection Act (Chapter 14:14) in Zimbabwe, a sign of the Government’s commitment to ensuring consumer rights and safety are protected.
Other regulatory mechanisms to ensure safety and protection of the consumer include institutions such as Trade Measures, Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) and the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) among others.
The rights of the consumer are also found in the Consumer Protection Act from Section 9 up to 51, while enforcement of those rights is covered from Section 65 to Section 77.
For instance, Section 9 of the Consumer Protection Act provides for the right to consumer education and awareness. This right as expanded in Section 9 (2) also indicates that consumer education should create substantive awareness on issues such as product hazards, product labelling, prices and quality, weights and measures, environmental protection and how to obtain redress.This means that the consumer must be provided with correct and relevant information concerning the possible hazards, prices and quality, weights and measurements of products so that they make informed decisions on whether to buy those products or not.
It is the consumer’s right to enjoy fair value derived from quality and safe goods and services as provided for in Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act.It is also the consumer’s right to freedom of choice as to the goods and services they require from suppliers of their choice as provided for in Sections 18 and 19 of the Act, which means their rights are violated when they are exposed to unnecessary harassment or coercion to purchase or consume certain goods or services.
The Act also requires that traders should disclose more visibly, information about goods and services and their prices, clearly labelled and in plain and language that the consumer could understand.
Trade measures as stated in the Trade Measures Act (Chapter 14:23) Sections 13 to 16 provides for the assizing of measuring equipment and powers of officials whilst sections 17 to 26 provide for the sale of articles and use of measuring equipment. For instance, section 13 (1) and (2) provides for the assizing and re-assizing of trade equipment by Trade Measures first before use by traders.Section 33 of Trade Measures Act provides for offences committed under the Act where Section 33(i) and (ii) provides that any person commits an offence if found tampering or to have tampered with any measuring equipment, increasing or have increased, diminishing or have diminished a measure used in trade.
Consumer protection is really critical, especially as the country strives for a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society by 2030, in which no one and no place should be left behind.
Online Reporter