The National Consumer Commission (NCC) is conducting inspections in Naledi, Soweto, and the Buffalo City Municipality in the Eastern Cape. These inspections aim to ascertain compliance with the Consumer Protection Act (CPA No. 68 of 2008) and other applicable laws, regulations, and by-laws in the consumer protection space.

In Soweto, the NCC joined forces with the Department of Home Affairs, the Health and Environmental Inspectors from the City of Johannesburg, South African Police Services (SAPS), and the Gauteng Office of Consumer Affairs.

With shops inspected thus far, the NCC discovered non-compliance with date markings past sell-by or use-by/expiry date requirements, some goods not labelled, and goods labelled in foreign languages with unclear or no information on ingredients. The items found non-compliant include baby food, sweets, cool drinks, noodles, snacks, biscuits, juices, and other consumables. The sale of these items has the potential to cause harm and compromise the health of consumers.

Similarly in the Eastern Cape, the NCC is inspecting suppliers of goods in East London, working with other regulators in the consumer protection space. The inspections in the Eastern Cape are in collaboration with the SAPS, Buffalo City Metro Municipality’s Environmental Health Inspectors, the National Departments of Home Affairs, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Labour and Employment, the Provincial Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT), the Border Management Agency, the South African Revenue Services, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, as well as advocacy groups.

In the East London inspections, the NCC team discovered certain instances of non-compliance with the CPA, including the sale or marketing of goods that appear to have passed their sell-by or use-by or expiry date, no trade description (species name) of meat, meat products, and unique products such as bullfrogs, suppliers not issuing sales records or invoices or issuing sales records or invoices that are not compliant with the CPA, suppliers not offering refunds and returns, while other suppliers are charging as much as a 20% cancellation fee on lay-bys.

Section 55 of the CPA, in particular, provides that every consumer has a right to goods that are of good quality, safe, and comply with applicable standards or any other public regulations. Where goods are not safe and pose a risk to consumers, the NCC can instruct the supplier to recall the unsafe goods and further investigate. Suppliers that are investigated, and if found in contravention of the CPA, can be referred to the National Consumer Tribunal for prosecution and face an administrative penalty of up to R1 000 000 (one million Rand) or 10% of the supplier’s turnover.

The NCC, in collaboration with other regulatory authorities, is continuing with these inspections.

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