The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) says total consumer protection can neither be achieved single-handedly by CCPC nor government but requires concerted efforts from various stakeholders and the general public.
CCPC Public Relations Officer, Hanford Chaaba, said in a statement released to ZANIS in Ndola today that the issue of consumer protection needs to be given the importance it deserves as it borders mostly on the health of people.
Mr Chaaba said for this reason the commission and local authorities in Kalomo, Choma, Namwala and Sinazongwe districts in Southern province has seized various products worth over K5 000.
He explained that K1,041 worth of items were seized from Kalomo market, K1,265 from Choma while K1,990 as well as K720 worth of products were seized from Sinazeze in Sinazongwe and Namwala district markets respectively.
He stated that the seized items mainly included expired cases of assorted fizzy drinks, juices and sanitary pads as well as cosmetics and various cases of toilet tissue that were labelled in foreign language.
“As such we would like to urge people of Southern province to be careful when buying and consuming food products. Therefore, consumers not only in Southern province but countrywide need to be proactive and report perpetrators of both anti-competitive business and unfair trading practices to CCPC,” Mr Chaaba said.
And Southern province permanent secretary, Sibanze Simuchoba, has urged the business community to desist from engaging in anti-competitive and unfair trading practices.
Mr Simuchoba said both anti-competitive and unfair conducts on the market had the potential to erode consumer welfare in the country.
Mr Simuchoba said it is imperative that traders adhered to the competition protection Act and other pieces of legislation that are aimed at perfecting the market, adding that businesses needed to strive to achieve optimal consumer satisfaction and protection.
