The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
THE Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) will carry out extensive inspection at premises of companies importing goods in Bulawayo in a bid to curb entry of sub-standard products into the country.
CCZ Matabeleland regional manager, Mr Comfort Muchekeza said there have been reports of imported sub-standard and expired products that are finding their way through the country’s ports of entry stifling local manufacturers’ competitiveness and exposing consumers to health hazards.
“We are worried about the large amounts of products which are being dumped into the country from other countries. These goods are either sub-standard or expired and as CCZ we don’t take that lightly because it compromises the health of consumers. As from next week (this week) we will make routine inspections in all retailers and importing companies in the warehouses in the city,” Mr Muchekeza said.
He said Bulawayo was most prone to sub-standard imported goods due to its proximity to the Botswana and South African borders, two countries enjoying most of the trade with Zimbabwe. The reported flooding of smuggled sub-standard products on the local market comes barely two months after Zimbabwe implemented the Consignment Based Conformity Assessment (CBCA) programme to bar such goods from finding their into the country.
CBCA should ensure that most imported products meet quality, safety, health and environmental standards in line with the World Trade Organisation agreements. Statutory Instrument 132 of 2015, which governs the operation of this programme, was gazetted on 18 December last year.
A French firm, Bureau Veritas started to verify products’ conformity in the country of export prior to shipment of the consignment into Zimbabwe from 1 March. Competition and Tariff Commission chairman Mr Dumisani Sibanda said if sub-standard goods were still finding their way into the country it was most likely that these were being smuggled as Bureau Veritas had since started operations.
“Isn’t Bureau Veritas is supposed to inspect imports. If the products are still coming into the country it would imply that such products are being smuggled. The main motive behind pre-shipment is to eliminate sub-standard goods.
Sub-standard products are cheap to manufacture and are normally priced to be lower than quality products. In the circumstances of low income society such as obtaining in Zimbabwe, consumers focus on functionality and are susceptible to spending based on affordability,” Mr Sibanda said.
Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha could neither confirm nor deny that imported sub-standard goods were still finding their way into the country.
“I haven’t received a report of sub-standard products finding their way into the country. If it is happening we will check with the ports to see what’s taking place. We are, however, having a meeting with Bureau Veritas this week to review progress,” he said.
