Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein says the law should take its course on anyone caught offside trading in counterfeit goods.
“To import and trade with counterfeit goods is illegal, regardless who is doing it and where it is done. The law must prevail and the police are duty bound to ensure that. Members of Parliament took an oath to protect the law, not to propagate breaking it. One can only be astounded,” the straight-talking minister said.
The former Finance minister’s tough stance comes at a time when the Namibia Revenue Authority (NamRa) has received a lot of public backlash over its decision to destroy over N$5 million worth of counterfeit goods.
The Authority has been accused of being selective in its enforcement practices, deliberately targeting goods owned by Namibian nationals, a position which it has denied.
NamRA maintains the goods, the bulk of which had been confiscated upon entry at Hosea Kutako International Airport and the Port of Walvis Bay, had solely been seized for copyright infringements and in the interest of protecting society.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that the cost of cloning or counterfeit goods globally is N$8 trillion a year – the largest percentage of that by value is electronics.
