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The SACP welcomes the launch of the National Consumer Commission (NCC) as a long-awaited step towards Fair Trade and a Fair Deal for all South African consumers. We congratulate Mamodupi Mohlala on her appointment as the new National Consumer Commissioner.
 

From 1 April 2011, our people will for the first time be properly protected from exploitation by unscrupulous businesses. The NCC will enable consumers to enforce their rights of redress in terms of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), which the SACP campaigned for and helped draft.

The CPA will empower consumers to fight for their rights in what are often David and Goliath battles, one small consumer against a giant corporation. The Consumer Commission will take up the cudgels on behalf of consumers in their complaints against manufacturers, distributors, retailers and others. Without the NCC, individual consumers would have little chance of succeeding against suppliers of shoddy goods and services.

The SACP is particularly pleased that the NCC will be able to impose harsh penalties - R1 million or 10% of a company's turnover - which could amount to millions of rands. These are meaningful penalties that will make suppliers of all kinds of goods and services think twice about ripping consumers off.

The NCC will complement the work of the National Credit Regulator (NCR) and enhance the protection from loan sharks and credit bureaus that South Africans already enjoy in terms of the National Credit Act (NCA). As part of its Financial Sector transformation campaign, the SACP campaigned for better protection of consumers who access credit and other financial services from 2000 until the NCA was implemented in 2007. The NCR and the NCC need to work closely together to ensure that consumers, especially the most vulnerable - the workers and the poor - have all the protection the law allows when they borrow money from either banks or other money lenders. The Party congratulates the NCC for identifying poor people in rural areas as a priority focus for the Commission in 2011.

One of the NCC’s responsibilities will be to protect consumers against misleading advertising and the direct marketing activities that have proliferated in recent years with advances in cellphone and internet technology. The SACP is pleased that its proposal to block cellphone and email advertising will be part of the Commission’s work. We welcome the Commission’s commitment to creating a register of consumers who do not want to receive advertisements and marketing material and trust that the marketing industry will comply with the new law.

However, the SACP is concerned at the NCC’s planned turnaround times for responding to and resolving complaints. The new National Consumer Commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala, has announced that the NCC has set itself the goals of addressing complaints within six weeks and resolving complaints within six months. These turnaround times are too slow. We call on the NCC to shorten the turnaround for answering complaints to three weeks and for resolving complaints to no longer than three months, even in cases where product testing has to be done by the SA Bureau of Standards. If consumers are to have confidence the new Commission, it must be able to answer complaints quickly and efficiently.

The SACP looks forward to working with the NCC and will play our part in ensuring that our members and others are aware of the service it offers in promoting and protecting the rights of all consumers.