By Margaret Kamba
In our last edition, the Consumer Protection Commission's Chief Executive Officer Prof Zororo Muranda and Research and Public Affairs Manager Cde Kudakwashe Mudereri talked about how the commission came about and how it varies from the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe.
In this edition the Research and Public Affairs Manager talks about which Consumer rights they protect.
"The Consumer Protection Commission specifically looks at conciliation and arbitration but advocacy groups will operate in a specific area for example transport, tourism and retail sectors and these advocacy groups will be accredited in line with Section 7 of the Consumer Protection Act.
"World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated annually on the 15th of March. This is a platform created to raise awareness on consumer rights so as to empower consumers to know their rights.
"For Zimbabwean consumers these rights are found in Section 9 of the Consumer Protection Act but the bulk of the Act talks about consumer rights.
"The thrust of this year's celebrations was on "fair and responsible artificial intelligence for consumers." This was the theme for the 2024 celebrations.
"As we are all aware, the world has now gone global and digital. Most transactions are now digital which is why the emphasis was on this so that consumers are protected as they carry out their transactions through digital means.
"The whole idea is to prevent fraud, continue maintaining privacy, ensure there's no misinformation and for data protection.
"This is in line with Government’s thrust which enacted the Data Protection and Privacy Act administered by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe."
Cde Mudereri took time to speak on the consumer rights.
"There are six rights which are the right to education and awareness, the right to information, the right to health and safety, the right to fair contractual agreement, the right to be heard, representation and redress as well as the right to choose.
"In line with the Government thrust of leaving no one and no place behind we have been around the country conducting 10 000 inspections and have prosecuted 2000 businesses.
"The major violation is selling expired products and this is because before the coming in of the law, businesses were just taking advantage of consumers and selling these expired products. Once caught the businesses have been prosecuted and fined. On that note we have been educating consumers to check for expiration dates of products since they do not have this culture.
"The other violation has been on disclaimer clauses enshrined in Section 42. These are no returns, no refunds and no exchange. The law says if the consumer is not happy with the product, he remains with the right to return the product to either be given a refund, corresponding product or exchange. The consumer chooses what he wants because businesses cannot absolve themselves from risk. We will leave no stone unturned until businesses comply with the provisions of the law in line with the Second Republic's thrust of ensuring our consumers receive the best on the market."
He added that other violations include charging consumers different prices as that displayed on the shelves and that the law says the price displayed at the shelves is the same as the till amongst other violations.
In the last edition of this series, we will feature an insight into the Consumer Protection Commission's stance on the proliferation of substandard goods on the market.