By HELEN ZULU –
THE Zambia Weights and Measures Agency (ZWMA) verified over 17,000 trade measuring instruments in 2015 compared to 24,578 in 2014.
ZWMA public relations officer Diana Ngula said a total of 17,359 trade measuring instruments were verified last year compared to 24,578 in 2014.
Ms Ngula said of this number, 501 were bulk flow metres, 3728 were fuel nozzles at filling stations, 238 weighbridges and 28 storage tanks.
She said others included 4,690 test weights, 7,861 trade scales and 313 tanker trucks.
Ms Ngula was speaking in an interview in Lusaka.
“There was a total of 17,359 trade measuring instruments verified in 2015 compared to 24,578 trade measuring instruments verified in 2014,” she said.
Ms Ngula said in terms of violations of the Weights and Measures Act, a number of small-scale traders had been found wanting in the past one year.
She said the common violation encountered was the use of unapproved measuring instruments.
Ms Ngula said these were mostly scales which were not suitable for trade use as they did not have features such as provisions to have them locked after verification to deter traders from manipulating them to cheat unsuspecting consumers.
“To this effect a number of small-scale trade businesses have been reached out to with sensitisation messages to educate them on the need to be compliant with the weights and measures regulation.
Other cases involved some traders of mineral water in Lusaka who were found selling the commodity in gallons.
She said the use of gallons prohibited as it’s not a unit of measure used in Zambia.
“The corrective action taken on these traders was that they were ordered to re-label the containers in litres which is an acceptable unit of measurement understood by the general public,” Ms Ngula added.