Landlords to be held accountable for illegal activities on their properties

Trade and industry deputy minister Mzwandile Masina said they planned to be harsh on landlords who housed criminal activities such as the selling counterfeit goods.

Masina said this during a raid of counterfeit goods in Randburg, Johannesburg on Thursday.

Masina led the raid.

He said they planned to focus mainly on shops selling counterfeit goods in the arts and entertainment industry and added the materials were undermining artists' intellectual rights.

The raid was conducted at Bright Water Commons shopping mall. Only one shop was raided.

"As you can see, they are selling DVDs for R5 and R10 which we think is a loss for the industry."

He said they were also cracking the whip for the good of consumers who were "robbed" when they bought products which later turned out to be of lesser quality.

Masina added they would be doing a number of raids throughout the country and said landlords should take responsibility rather than only "focus on getting profit from these criminal activities".

Musicians Mzwakhe Mbule and Robbie Malinga were also among those who joined the raid. Dressed in a striped blue shirt and a blue cap, Mbule appealed to the government to strengthen its efforts to fight piracy.

"Government must work hard to bring perpetrators of this economic crime to book."

Source: News24