The City of Tshwane authorities and law enforcement agencies have extended a targeted campaign against counterfeit goods to Sunnyside and Marabastad, establishing a long-term partnership to train metro police officers.

Inspectors from the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), working alongside the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD), SAPS, and other national and provincial law enforcement services, conducted inspections to remove non-compliant products from the market.

Confiscated items include plastic carrier bags, chemical disinfectants, cement, incandescent lamps, cord extension sets, plugs, lamp holders, canned fish and frozen products.

Tshwane Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya said the focus in Sunnyside was on selling and distributing illicit goods.

Moya insisted the city has a mandate to protect the public from harmful products and strengthen fair trade for businesses.

Addressing a shop owner in a video posted on social media, Moya stressed that business owners bear the legal responsibility to ensure their stock is compliant and original.

Counterfeit electrical items pose severe fire risk

Inspectors confiscated illicit electrical cables, light bulbs and other electrical appliances in Marabastad.

Moya said non-compliant products pose severe safety risks to consumers by increasing the danger of electrical faults, overheating and fires.

“Some of the cables we confiscated today are labelled as copper, but they are fake. They consist of a mixture of aluminium and low-grade copper, and they are coated to appear like genuine copper cables,” Moya said.

MMC for Corporate and Shared Services Flora Monama echoed the mayor’s sentiments, stating that confiscated household electrical appliances, cables and lights were uncertified, unmarked and unregistered.

“Instead of pure copper, these lightweight, counterfeit household cables consist primarily of aluminium painted with a thin copper coating. Substandard electrical products like these pose severe fire and safety hazards to the public,” Monama said.

Explosives Unit called to verify fireworks licence

Monama also reported that boxes of fireworks were removed from one store due to improper storage and fire risks.

Inspectors called in the SAPS Explosives Unit to verify a trading store’s licence and check legal limits after finding dangerous fireworks stored alongside flammable items such as toilet paper and buckets in a facility lacking basic fire safety compliance, having no fire extinguishers or clear exits.

The operation also focused on inspecting businesses for non-compliant paraffin stoves, heaters, safety footwear and frozen products.

While the operation in Pretoria West recovered nearly R3m in illicit products, exact figures for the follow-up operations will be provided when available.

Moya emphasised that the city will establish a long-term partnership with the NRCS to train TMPD officers so enforcement operations continue beyond the initial three-day campaign.

“You can’t do such an operation and leave out Marabastad, and the most concerning part is that here you find domestic products. The products that are used by households, like your toilet paper, perfumes, nail stuff, cosmetics, electronics, are the biggest problem; you can just imagine the impact on the infrastructure even at a household level. So it’s unfortunate that we have people in our country who want to maximise profits at the expense of our economy as a country and at the expense of the health of our people.

“This is work we can’t get tired of doing. We are here, and this is not the end of it. They must not say, ‘Oh, now the three-day operation is over; we can breathe and bring them back.’ Now there will be a long-term partnership with this entity where we are hoping that they’ll even help train our own TMPD officers so they can do the work, even without the entity. I just like that we’re hitting them in the pocket,” Moya said.

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