Online Reporter
Judith Phiri Zimpapers Business Hub
ZIMBABWE is choking under a wave of counterfeit products that local business leaders say are now a full blown cancer eating away profits, trust and national productivity. In street lingo these fakes are called Fong Kongs and companies across sectors say the Fong Kong flood is threatening to drown genuine brands that have taken decades to build.
The alarm was raised during a panel discussion at the 2025 Annual Consumer Conference in Bulawayo where industry players painted a grim picture of a market overrun by cheap knock offs that look real but destroy everything they touch.
SeedCo Regional Agronomist for Matabeleland, Wallace Banda, said bogus seed packs have become a nightmare for both the company and farmers.
“They are giving us a big challenge and when they come to the market they will be cheaper than the certified seeds so farmers end up falling for these cheap products unaware that they are counterfeits,” said Banda.
He said the fake seeds slash yields, sink farmers into financial loss and threaten national food security.
“Some of these counterfeit seeds are being put in packages almost similar to ours and farmers pick them unaware,” he said . Banda said only stronger enforcement and louder awareness campaigns can stop the rot.
Eversharp Regional Sales Manager, Julian Mbono, said the country’s only pen manufacturer is under siege from fake pens selling for a quarter of the real price.
“We have witnessed other products similar to ours coming in at a very low price. These are not only in Zimbabwe but across the region affecting our exports,” he said.
The fakes have dragged down their revenue and smeared their brand reputation as frustrated customers blame Eversharp for shoddy performance caused by counterfeit pens.
“This has affected us on our growth because we are now more busy trying to counter these products. Counterfeits are a cancer that is killing us,” said Mbono.
Treger Products Group Marketing Director, Sithokozile Ndlovu, said their century old brand is also bleeding from an invasion of imitation household goods.
“We are getting a lot of enamel products coming into the market which resemble exactly the products that we manufacture. They copy our design including the colour and this has damaged our image on the market,” she said.
Customers often storm their offices demanding answers on why pots have become lighter and less durable only to discover they bought Fong Kongs carrying stolen labels.
“They have copied even the shape of our bellied pot and they are even painting the fake ones black as well. On appliances there are also a lot of counterfeits,” said Ndlovu.
Treger has now set up service agents across major towns to help customers identify genuine appliances and get proper support.
The two day conference hosted by the Consumer Protection Commission in partnership with Zimpapers is running under the theme Combating Proliferation of Counterfeit Products for Enhanced Industry Competitiveness and Consumer Safety for the Realisation of Vision 2030.
