Botswana consumer movement weak - Motowane

Sesupo Rantsimako
Correspondent | Thursday March 25, 2010 00:00

He said this at the commemoration of the World Consumer Rights day that was held at Francistown's Galo Shopping Complex recently under the theme 'Our money, our rights'.

Motowane said the fact that the country is recovering from an economic recession, makes it important to educate and inform consumers on problems they can face in the financial market. He said the aim of the campaign is to help consumers make informed decisions when engaging in all financial transactions.

The assistant minister accused the consumer movement of incompetence leaving consumers vulnerable to exploitation in the purchase of goods and services in the marketplace.

'It is the intention of this event to improve consumer awareness on their rights and to encourage the consumers to form consumer groups through which their voices will be heard,' he said.

According to Motowane, the government has always had the interest of the consumer at heart. As such, he said they have ensured that there is requisite legislation to regulate most of the sectors including the banking sector.

He said there is also an Act, which regulates businesses such as micro-lenders, insurance and pension funds.

The legislation was crafted after realising that most service providers were exploiting consumers through unfair contract terms. 'We also have in place the Consumer Protection Act which provides for the protection of consumers by means of investigation, prohibition and control of unfair business practices,' said Motowane.

To this end, he noted that the consumer protection office under the Ministry of Trade commissioned a study to assess the skills required by consumers when purchasing financial services. He said the results indicate that generally there are very limited skills on financial matters, hence the decision to assist in designing a financial literacy programme for consumers.

Chairperson of the Botswana Consumer Centre for Advocacy Research and Orientation (BCCARO), Dr Selina Peters said consumer rights are the building blocks of consumer education and protection. 'They empower consumers to redress deceptive, unfair and unethical practices in the marketplace by taking appropriate action,' she said.

According to Dr Peters, there are eight international recognised fundamental consumer rights. They are the right to be heard or represented, the right to safety, the right to information, the right to choose, the right to satisfaction of basic needs, the right to a healthy environment, the right to consumer education and the right to redress.

She said financial markets are now flooded with numerous financial service providers including non-bank financial institutions such as micro lenders and Metshelo which are all over the country. She said the challenges experienced by consumers when dealing with financial providers are a concern to most people in Botswana.

'The trends, research and consumer complaints against financial service providers indicated that consumers around the world encounter various challenges when transacting with financial service providers,' said Peters, adding that the challenges experienced range from unfair contract terms and conditions, high interest rates, retention of customers' ATM cards after being lent some money, misleading and inadequate information.