HARARE
–
Nearly
50
percent
of
groceries
seized
from
tuck
shops
and
vending
stalls
during
the
ongoing
blitz
against
counterfeit
and
smuggled
goods
in
Zimbabwe
have
been
tested
to
be
fake
and
a
potential
health
hazard,
a
top
official
with
the
country’s
industry
ministry
has
told
parliament.
Giving
oral
evidence
before
Parliamentary
Portfolio
Committee
on
Industry
and
Commerce
on
Tuesday,
chief
director
for
commerce
in
the
Ministry
of
Industry
and
Commerce,
Douglas
Runyowa
said
the
proliferation
of
counterfeit
products
in
Zimbabwe
has
reached
alarming
levels.
“Most
of
what
we
have
seen
in
the
informal
sector
is
quite
shocking,
and
in
our
awareness
programmes,
we
are
saying
it
might
be
cheap
but
it’s
coming
at
an
expense
to
your
health,
because
we
cannot
guarantee
what
is
not
there.
“Our
health
authorities
have
not
certified
some
of
those
goods
safe
and
fit
for
human
consumption,
hence
we
really
need
to
intensify
our
efforts
through
an
all-stakeholder
approach
and
its
a
fight
that
would
also
be
needed
for
our
portfolio
committee
to
help
us
intensify,
because
really
what
is
out
there
is
quite
scary,”
he
said.
Runyowa
told
the
legislators
that
a
recent
survey
conducted
by
the
ministry
revealed
that
50
percent
of
goods
sold
in
informal
retail
shops
do
not
meet
the
required
standards.
“I
would
like
to,
not
to
scare
you,
but
to
advise
you
that
we
recently
carried
out
a
survey
with
the
Standards
Association
of
Zimbabwe
where
we
went
and
bought
products
from
the
shelf
and
took
them
for
testing
and
compared
what
was
written
in
the
results;
50
percent
of
the
products
did
not
comply.
You
can
actually
see
fake
Vaseline,
fake
flour,
fake
rice,
fake
toothpaste,
and
this
is
an
alarming
rate,”
he
said.
The
ministry
official
said
the
blitz,
which
began
last
year,
has
been
successful.
“You
will
be
aware
that
over
the
last
quarter,
going
back
to
October,
there
has
been
intensified
blitz
against
counterfeit
goods,
against
smuggled
goods,
so
much
so
that
even
this
afternoon
we
are
actually
destroying
about
four
tonnes
of
goods
that
were
actually
confiscated
during
that
practice,
to
ensure
that
we
remove
them
from
the
shelves,
because
we
cannot
guarantee
our
people
that
they
are
actually
consuming
safe
goods,”
he
said.
He
appealed
for
parliament’s
support
in
the
fight
the
rot.
“We
want
to
also
join
hands
with
you
in
this
particular
fight,
which
we
have
really
intensified
from
our
side
as
a
ministry,”
he
said.
The
proliferation
of
both
informal
traders
of
groceries
and
the
products
themselves
has
seen
formal
retail
shops
such
as
big
supermarket
chains
suffer
business
losses
as
locals
turn
to
the
spaza
shops
to
acquire
their
goods.
Some
of
the
retail
shops
have
since
closed
shop
or
reduced
their
operations
following
competition
from
the
informal
sector.