25 July 2008
Maputo — The US-based hardware company Hewlett Packard (HP) is signing agreements with Mozambican partners in the fight against counterfeit computer products.
The first such agreement was celebrated on Thursday evening with the Maputo company Consultrajin. According to Mercia Uys, the representative of IT4Africa, an authorized HP wholesaler, Consultrajin is one of six Mozambican firms licensed to sell HP products.
She announced that a full certification procedure will begin on 1 November, allowing consumers to know whether the company they are dealing with is authorized to sell HP products. Uys said that customers will be able to obtain an end-user letter from certified partners, guaranteeing that the goods purchased are genuine.
Armindo Cossa, managing director of Consultrajin, claimed that two thirds of the computer products on the Mozambican market are counterfeit. Looking at all the areas of east and west Africa that she deals with, Uys put the figure rather lower, at 40 per cent.
Cossa said the main victim of counterfeit goods is the Mozambican state, because of the tender procedures followed. The rules for tendering are brutally clear - the dominant factor is price, and almost always the lowest bidder will receive the contract.
Cossa argued this was dangerous when acquiring high-tech equipment, because it opened the door to counterfeit. Pirates are able to charge less for their goods than bona fide suppliers.
He suggested that it was time to change the rules, and that, at the very least, the state should demand that suppliers provide documents from the manufacturers certifying that the products purchased are genuine.
The counterfeit goods come from the far east. Uys said that most of them are made in China and Singapore. But neither she nor Cossa named the companies involved in putting these inferior goods onto the Mozambican market.
Obviously companies like Consultrajin know who their competitors are, and which of them are dealing in counterfeit goods. Yet Cossa was reluctant to denounce them publicly. Instead, he suggested that, if customers suspect they have been sold counterfeit HP goods, they should inform Consultrajin which will then contact both HP and the police.
The main problem seems to be not with machines such as printers or photocopiers themselves, but with consumables such as toner and ink. Uys explained to her audience some of the tell-tale signs that enable customers to know whether a toner cartridge or inking drum is a genuine HP product or a fake.
"The customer is the loser", she stressed. "He is paying premium prices for a poor quality product. He thinks he is getting HP quality when in reality he is not".
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