91 Firms Withdraw From ISO Regulation, But SAZ Has No Teeth

“It is not compulsory to register with us,” she said in an interview. “This is voluntary and there are no statutory requirements for firms to register with the SAZ to get the ISO standard.”

She said government was however trying to regulate products in Zimbabwe seeing that there is now an influx of inferior products especially from the Chinese.

“There are no legal mechanisms to deal with anyone,” she said.

“However this year 91 firms have withdrawn from the ISO regulations because they could not maintain their standards for their products. Companies are facing a financial crisis right now. So we cannot force them to comply with the stringent international regulations.”

She said such items as water would now be strictly monitored as some firms were allegedly merely filling empty containers with tap water and selling to the public as bottled water.

“We have heard that such things are happening,” Gahadzikwa said. “We are still carrying out our own investigations into the issue.”