By JAMES KUNDA –
MORE than 700 rolls of failed electric cables worth K 80,500 have been quarantined in Lusaka town centre area while 632 dozens of fake black shoe polish have been intercepted.
Following surveillance inspection to establish the number of failed brands of electric cables that were still being sold in Lusaka the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) quarantined the electric cables.
ZABS head of marketing and public relations Hazel Zulu said in a statement yesterday that the non-compliant cables were going by brand names like ‘power trust’, ‘flexible wires’, ‘zaks cable’ and ‘emkay cables’.
“ZABS would like to take this opportunity to counsel all individuals or firms dealing in such products to stop the trade as these products are non-compliant and are a violation of the Standards Act, Chapter
416 of the Laws of Zambia,” Ms Zulu said.
She said in Zambia, cables were required to comply with ZS 688 standards and traders should ensure that their suppliers comply with the requirements in the standard to avoid bringing sub-standard products into the country.
On the fake polish Ms Zulu said a total of 632 dozens black shoe polish in 40 millilitres round tins, purported to be the brand name “Kiwi”, have been intercepted and withdrawn from the market bearing the same batch number 171404.
She said the counterfeit polish was estimated to be worth K34,760 and was smuggled into the country by cross-border traders who managed to evade ZABS inspectors at the Nakonde Border.
“ZABS would like to take this opportunity to counsel all individuals or firms dealing in imported products that fall under compulsory standards to subject their goods and merchandise to ZABS inspection and laboratory testing.
“This is with the aim of ascertaining compliance with ZS 074 in case of shoe polish and avoid bringing sub-standard products into the country,” Ms Zulu said.
She said the affected traders would be penalised for failure to comply with the Standards Act, Chapter 416 of the Laws of Zambia.
Ms Zulu said ZABS urged consumers or members of the public to desist from buying such products.
