Story by Wellington Makonese
THE Consumer Council of Zimbabwe has commended the government for ensuring the availability of products on the shelves and instituting legislation that provides recourse for aggrieved customers.
The year 2022 was characterised by economic shocks during the first few months but the government managed to steady ship leading to stability for the greater part of the year.
This has not gone unnoticed as the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe hailed a raft of measures that the government has put in place to ensure consumers are not exposed to shortages and price hikes.
“It was a year of ups and downs, where prices shot highly earlier before the government placed measures. We are glad that we had products available on the shelves. We also had to deal with cases of the substandard product by other suppliers but overlay the issues were dealt with,” said Mrs Rose Mpofu from the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe.
The promulgation of legislation that protects the customer is expected to bring market competitiveness.
“I think we now have legal recourse to protect consumers against unfriendly practices, through the Consumer Protection Act, at the same time they should make themselves available to pursue any unfair practices,” she said.
Heading into the new year, the consumer representative body hopes to see more efforts towards increasing shelf occupancy by a variety of local products from the current 80 percent for the convenience of consumers.
