Consumer Commission issues notices to these 45 non-compliant shops

The National Consumer Commission has issued compliance notices to 45 non-compliant suppliers of goods across South Africa after uncovering numerous contraventions of the Consumer Protection Act, following a series of nationwide compliance and monitoring inspections to ensure compliance.

Hardin Ratshisusu, acting consumer commissioner, says that during these inspections, the National Consumer Commission (NCC) discovered that some suppliers were selling expired and spoiled food items, including dairy products, meat, maize meal, eggs, snacks, biscuits, and noodles.

In some cases, items had no expiry or best-before dates, violating section 55(2) of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), which guarantees consumers the right to safe, usable and good quality goods. Date markings assist consumers in determining the shelf life and safety of the products before buying anything.

Ratshisusu says some shops continue to sell products such as wors, chicken pieces and other foodstuffs without proper labelling, contravening section 24, read with regulation 6 of the CPA. The CPA provides that shops must apply a trade description to the goods, and the labels must not contain misleading information.

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Consumer Commission finds shops failing to display prices or issue sales records

In addition, the NCC further discovered that shops, especially in rural and peri–urban areas, displayed goods such as noodles, sugar, soup and canned foods without any visible pricing, violating section 23(3), which requires all goods for sale to have prices on them or next to them to ensure transparency regarding pricing and consumer choice.

Ratshisusu says another observation the inspectors reported was a widespread disregard of section 26(2-3) where suppliers failed to issue complete sales records or receipts to consumers as the CPA requires.

“Suppliers of goods and services must issue sales records for every transaction. The sales record must include the supplier’s name and address, product description, quantity, price and total amount paid by the consumer, including Vat.”

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Consumer Commission warns shopkeepers to comply with CPA

The NCC instructed the shop owners to comply with the CPA by removing and destroying non-compliant goods from their shelves, properly labelling all products as required in the CPA and its regulations, including food and household goods and where applicable, ensuring that prices are displayed on or near all products available for sale.

Shop owners must also issue accurate sales records and receipts with all mandatory transaction information. The investigations are continuing.

Ratshisusu says if any businesses fail to adhere to the terms of the compliance notices, the NCC may refer them to the National Consumer Tribunal, which can impose an administrative fine of up to R1 million or 10% of the supplier’s annual turnover.

“Food safety remains our top priority. This enforcement is part of targeted action to stem the sale of unsafe products to unsuspecting consumers. The NCC will continue collaboration with other regulators to ensure compliance with the CPA and related legislation.”

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Here are the shops that received compliance notices from Consumer Commission

The NCC issued compliance notices to these 15 shops for not adhering to the CPA:

• Pasella Super Food for selling goods after their sell-by date, without date markings and without labels
• Boxer Sibasa for selling expired and damaged goods
• Pintos Trading for selling expired goods, goods with no date markings and dented cans, while the shop also does not issue sales records and some goods have no trade descriptions
• Husheni Hawley for selling goods with broken packaging and defects, as well as not putting prices on all products
• Mandhla Trading trading as Supersave for selling goods without trade descriptions, dented cans, expired goods and goods with no list of ingredients
• Warrenton Spar for selling goods with no ingredients disclosed
• Overland Supermarket for selling expired goods and goods with no trade descriptions, and displaying goods without prices
• Z&T Khan Trading for selling goods without displaying their prices, damaged goods, expired goods, goods with no ingredients indicated and without proper labels and trade descriptions
• Ruhana General Dealer for selling goods not fit for human consumption, not displaying prices, selling goods without trade descriptions and failing to issue sales records
• Magigilele Fresh Supermarket for selling goods not suitable for human consumption and not issuing sales records
• Bushvelly LTT for selling goods with no dates, labelling or trade description
• Town Discount Supermarket for selling expired food and dented cans, not labelling goods properly and not issuing sales records
• JA Supermarket for selling goods without prices, selling expired food and dented cans and failing to label goods properly
• Zeerust Sweets An Chappies for selling goods that are not labelled as well as expired goods
• Mudipho for selling food without disclosing the ingredients.

You can see the full list of shops here.