Source: Underweight commodities flood Bulawayo markets – The Southern Eye
CONSUMERS in Bulawayo have expressed concern over underweight basic communities flooding the market, calling on authorities to deal with unscrupulous traders.
The market has been flooded with various underweight goods such as sugar, mealie-meal, bread and other basic commodities.
In an interview this week, Bulawayo United Residents Association chairperson Winos Dube said the problem was affecting many consumers, adding that these cases should be reported to relevant authorities.
“I have seen this on social media platforms, where people are discussing the issues but no one has come to our offices to complain,” Dube said.
United Refineries Limited chief executive Busisa Moyo blamed the challenges on new entities on the market arguing that some of them are not abiding by the rules of the trade.
“We are gravely concerned by the new entrants in the sector who are not following the rules of the trade. The Trade Measures Act [Chapter 14:23] is a cardinal Act in manufacturing that says the displayed weight and contents should match,” he said.
“By selling bags weighing 9kg while displaying 10kg, the customer is being short-changed and this is anti-competitive because it means the seller is creating fictitious margins or selling below cost when compared to bona fide manufacturers who fill in the correct weights.
“We urge the Trade Measures Commission to be more vigilant in criminalising this behaviour. The Grain Millers Association and Small Grain Millers Association and Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries should promote integrity among their members,” Moyo said.
Consumer Protection Commission chairperson, Mthokozisi Nkosi, said they were aware of the underweight goods and were working with other government departments to deal with businesses distributing such goods.
“The Consumer Protection Commission is very much aware of unscrupulous people masquerading as businessmen who are selling underweight goods, where they are actually claiming to be selling, for instance, sugar, which has far less weight than what they are actually claiming,” he said.
“We are receiving these cases more on a routine basis. The commission has teamed up with a department within the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and law enforcement agents including all the government departments that have got an interest in this malpractice.”
Nkosi said the commission would not only deal with issues linked to underweight goods but the transportation and distribution of goods that are unsafe to the consumer.
“Together we have teamed up in ensuring that the consuming public is actually protected not only in terms of underweight goods but also goods that we consider to be unsafe,” he said.
Nkosi said the commission was also targeting goods that would have been imported into Zimbabwe in its bid to protect consumers.
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