ZIMBABWEAN businesses say counterfeit products have become a malignant “cancer” nibbling away at their operations and inflicting significant damage on their financial health, brand reputation and customer trust.
Counterfeit products are a significant issue in the country, affecting various key sectors and posing health and economic risks.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the 2025 Annual Consumer Conference in Bulawayo, Seed Co regional agronomist for Matabeleland, Mr Wallace Banda, said they were also facing challenges posed by counterfeit seeds.
“They are giving us a big challenge and when they come to the market, they will be cheaper than the certified seeds, so farmers end up falling for these cheap products, unaware that they are counterfeits.
“These then affect their yields, while we are also losing a lot of sales. Some of these counterfeit seeds are being put in packages almost similar to ours and farmers pick them up unaware that they are counterfeits,” he said.
He said such seeds led to low yields, financial loss for farmers and threatened national food security.
Mr Banda called for increased enforcement and public awareness campaigns to address the challenge of counterfeit seeds.
Eversharp regional sales manager, Mr Julian Mbono, said that as a division of listed Amalgamated Regional Trading (ART) Holdings, they have been around since 1972, making it 53 years.
“We are a Zimbabwean brand . . . doing exports into the SADC region; to countries like Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana and South Africa, among others.
“We do produce pens, pencils, rulers, among other writing instruments. We are the only pen manufacturing company in Zimbabwe, but we have witnessed other products similar to ours that are coming in at a very low price, which is a quarter of ours,” he said.
“These are not only in Zimbabwe, but you will find them across the region, affecting our exports. Counterfeit products are found in places where we would not even have done marketing there.”
He said this had a huge negative impact on operations, as they had lost a lot of revenue through the counterfeit products, as well as consumer confidence.
Mr Mbono said clients were complaining about the performance of the counterfeit pens, with some saying they cannot use the products because they were substandard.
“This has affected our growth because we are now busy trying to counter these products, which are a big problem. As Eversharp, it has been a big challenge for us.
“These are also coming in, not being environmentally friendly to our children and all our users, so that has greatly done some harm to what we are doing,” he added.
“Through our judicial system, we do need great support because the people who are found with these counterfeit products, even if they are caught, you find that the charges that they are getting are not that deterrent, so the next thing the person will be back on the streets. Counterfeits are a cancer that is killing us.”
Treger Products Group marketing director, Mrs Sithokozile Ndlovu, said their company started in 1911, and was similarly facing serious challenges due to the proliferation of counterfeits.
“Treger Products has five divisions, being Monarch Steel, Kango Products, Treger Plastics, Zimbabwe Grain Bag and Tregers Harare.
“Counterfeit products have slowed down our growth and we have been affected a lot, especially on household goods,” she said.
“We are getting a lot of enamel products coming into the market that resemble exactly the products that we manufacture. They copied our designs, including the colours, and this has damaged our image on the market.”
She said they were getting a lot of people coming to inquire how and why their products had become lighter and were no longer durable, when in fact they would have bought counterfeit products.
Mrs Ndlovu said their labels were being replicated and put on the counterfeit products, such as pots, which made it difficult for consumers to distinguish between the original and fake ones.
“We have come up with strategies to try and counter these counterfeit products. They have copied even the shape of our bellied pot and they are even painting the fake ones black as well. On appliances, there are also a lot of counterfeits.
“We have established service agents throughout the major towns to ensure that the consumers get the right expertise, especially on appliances,” she added.
The two-day event hosted by the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) in partnership with Zimpapers is running under the theme: “Combating Proliferation of Counterfeit Products for Enhanced Industry Competitiveness and Consumer Safety for the Realisation of Vision 2030.” – Herald
