Times Of Swaziland: FAKE SANITARY PADS HIT MARKET

FAKE SANITARY PADS HIT MARKET
================================================================================
BY SITHEMBILE HLATSHWAYO on 17/05/2018 08:57:00


MBABANE – The country has been hit by a market of fake sanitary towels which
were branded under a most trusted and loved product name.
The Citizen news, which is a South African publication, on Tuesday reported that
cops cracked down on the illegal sanitary towels. According to the publication,
the suspected syndicate was caught repackaging the cheap products as the
original brands. The products were found at an illegal manufacturing firm at
Rocky’s Drift, known as Emkhiweni in Nelspruit, South Africa. It was further
alleged that the Chinese owners imported the goods and repacked them into
packages of South African known brands. According to the publication, a total of
14 undocumented migrants employed at the factory were arrested, including 12
Malawians and two Chinese workers. They are expected to appear at the White
River Magistrates Court soon.
It was reported that thousands of illegal sanitary towels, cosmetics and
containers of shoe polish, were seized by a joint South African police operation
on Tuesday morning. The raid, it was reported, also saw E16 000 in notes as well
as several bags of coins confiscated. These brands are then allegedly smuggled
into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries mainly
Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Customers have been fooled to think they were buying the
original product but to their surprise, discovered that inside the package, it
was a different poor quality brand. News of the fake sanitary towels was shared
by disappointed customers through social media platforms.
The consumers alleged that the pads were rebranded to appear to be the real
brand. Indeed, this was confirmed when this reporter went to buy the sanitary
towels from one of the shops in the capital city. The package had only two
original pads while the rest were fake.
Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula said they were not aware of the
fake products said to be smuggled into the country. Dr Magagula said now that
they were aware, they would set in motion the response to the despicable act.
Swaziland Standards Authority (SWASA) Chief Executive Officer Sihle Zwane said
the national standard body was not aware of the matter and were shocked it was
happening in the country. However, she said the ministry of health was better
placed to comment on the issue. She said basically, they set the national
standards which are voluntary and only become mandatory when referenced in
technical regulation. Zwane said in terms of the compliance, there were
different regulators managing those standards. Swaziland Consumer Association
Chairman Bongani Bhanyaza Mdluli, said they condemned the act of smuggling the
illegal sanitary towels in the strongest terms. Mdluli said this was actually a
violation of the dignity of women and those involved should be dealt with
accordingly. He said this was theft through misrepresentation.