adminIn an interview, the CCZ executive director, Ms Rosemary Siyachitema, said the Government should expedite the enactment of the Consumer Protection Bill, since most businesses are operating unethically.
“Government should expedite the enactment of the Consumer Protection Bill so that a statutory law can protect consumers from businesses that operate unlawfully.
“The CCZ has over the years been using persuasive means so as to make businesses adhere to ethical practices,” said Ms Siyachitema.
She said through expediting the enactment of the Consumer Protection Bill, the Government would have embraced this year’s theme of the World Consumer Rights Day, “Consumer Justice Now”.
The World Consumer Rights Day is commemorated on 15 March.
“We have been striving for the enactment of a Consumer Protection Bill for the past five years without any success. By the end of December last year we had presented a draft bill which we presented to the Ministry but at this stage it is taking too long to enact the bill,” she said .
Ms Siyachitema said there were numerous consumer violations that were being perpetrated by utilities, banks, retailers, insurers and manufacturers with the chief being unfair pricing.
“Once we have a consumer protection law, we are looking forward to establishing a consumer court, which will be dealing with issues involving violation of consumer rights and we also expect a commission to be set up,” she said.
She appealed to Government to come up with a specific and explicit consumer protection law that would ensure that businesses adhere to ethically sound business practices.
She said Zimbabwe had over the years been relying on outdated and fragmented pieces of legislation like the Consumer Contract Act, Small Claims Courts, the Bankers, Depositors Protection and Insurance Act which are not clear on consumer protection.
Online Reporter