Harare, (New Ziana) In an effort to counter the proliferation of fake products on the market, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) has developed a computer application that detects counterfeit goods.

In an interview on the side lines of the stakeholders briefing in the capital on Friday, Loyce Magade, director for commerce and consumer affairs in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce commended the move saying the application, dubbed Buy CCZ Verified platform, is a major step towards addressing the issue of counterfeits that have flooded the marketplace.

“The initiative of the Buy CCZ Verified platform is commendable and a major step towards us as an economy, as a nation, addressing the issue of counterfeits that have really infested the whole marketplace in the country. It has spared no province, it has spared no metropolis. Everybody as a consumer is badly impacted, the economy is badly impacted.

“We needed something like this, its coming at the right time and we are really hopeful that all the stakeholders, in particular the producers. For this system to be able to function and function well, the producers need to work with the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe to upload the relevant information so that the consumer when they go out in the market they can be able to verify the products whether they are genuine or they are not genuine,” she said.

Magade said what really impressed her ministry about the platform and initiative are the features that enable real time reporting when in the supermarket, including that any ordinary phone can perform the task of reporting and verifying the authenticity of any product.

CCZ chief executive officer Rosemary Mpofu said as a consumer watchdog they are lobbying for an anti-counterfeiting Act.

“You know we are in an ICT digital economy now and we have to use the digital tools to be able to protect the consumers, so today what we are really doing is to demonstrate to our businesses, to our government, key stakeholders, the business community that we can tackle this problem of counterfeits.

“It is not undoable, it is something that we can do and we can fight counterfeits because counterfeits are coming in many ways, fake products, imitations, under-weight products, smuggled goods and expired goods,” she said, adding counterfeit goods are affecting consumers mainly their health and safety.

She said the technology that they have developed going to empower
consumers to differentiate between a proper product as opposed to a counterfeit.

Ordinary consumers will be able to use their WhatsApp platform or even websites amid plans to introduce more features that enable consumers without smart phones to be able to enjoy the facility as well, said Mpofu.

New Ziana