THE Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has revealed that Africa is highly vulnerable to counterfeit products, with statistics indicating that 30%-60% of traded goods globally are counterfeits.
The remarks were made by the chief executive officer and director of Comesa, Willard Mwemba, who was represented by, Steven Kamu Kama, during the two-day 2025 annual consumer conference held in Bulawayo at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) yesterday.
The conference was held under the theme Combating Proliferation of Counterfeit Products for Enhanced Industry Competitiveness and Consumer Safety for the Realisation of Vision 2030.
Mwemba said 12 out of 21 Comesa member States are among the 50 countries globally with the highest rates of counterfeit trade.
“30%-60% of traded goods are counterfeits and 42% of global counterfeit medicines are in Africa,” Mwemba said.
“Counterfeit medicines contribute to 100 000 direct deaths and 500 000 deaths due to treatment failures.
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“12 out of 21 Comesa member States are among the 50 countries globally with the highest rates of counterfeit trade. Africa is highly vulnerable to counterfeit products.”
He noted that about 6,5% of total electronics trade in counterfeit products causes economic and social hazard and health risks
He emphasised that counterfeit electronics contribute to 2,9 million tonnes of generated waste.
Mwemba gave an example of Efferalgan Vitamin C 500g for colour changes, which he said does not meet the standards.
“Falsified OZEMPIC 1 mg may result in ineffective treatment. Falsified Herceptin 440 mg was confirmed as counterfeit by the Pharmacies and Poisons Board of Kenya,” he said.
Mwemba indicated that several fake electrical appliances were recalled by the Malawi Bureau of Standards.
The Comesa boss highlighted that consumers are the most important part of a business transaction and yet they are the most vulnerable due to their weak bargaining power.
He further stated that it is critical that governments put in place adequate measures to protect consumers and these include adequate legal framework to protect the rights of consumers.
He called upon governments to strengthen laws that deal with the proliferation of counterfeit products.
Mwemba advised member countries to enhance best practices that include capacity building for the members of staff of the consumer agency saying markets are dynamic.
“(On) awareness and sensitisation to both consumers and businesses, consumers need to be aware of their rights and obligations in business transactions and that businesses need to be aware of the law to motivate self-compliance,” he said, adding that raising awareness requires the use of different media so that information reaches intended targets at the same time buttressing the point that advocacy to stakeholders plays different roles in consumer protection.
“Multi-stakeholder engagements with other agencies dealing with some form of consumer protection matters in their specific sectors, for example, the standards bodies, custom authorities, intellectual property rights offices, government ministries and consumer associations can assist in resolving issues of overlapping mandates,” he said.
Mwemba highlighted that they have developed a Comesa model law on consumer protection, which he said is aimed at achieving uniformity on consumer protection, particularly on the protection of consumer rights, responsibilities and obligations of the businesses and the consumers.
He stated that this would go a long way in helping consumers receive the same level of protection, online and offline.
Mwemba asserted that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between themselves and Consumer Protection Commission in October to enhance co-operation in enforcement of the consumer protection laws of the two institutions.
“Article 10 of the MoU envisages that the two institutions should pursue technical assistance and capacity building programs for each other.
“Pursuant to the MoU, the Comesa Competition Commission has been providing financial and capacity building to the Consumer Protection Commission for training for the members of staff.”
The Comesa Competition Commission is established under article 6 of the Comesa Competition Regulations with a mandate to promote competition and protect consumers by preventing restrictive business practices and offensive conduct against consumers.