Benefiting customers in a holistic manner

Remarks by National Consumer Commission (NCC) commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed at the commencement of public hearings into the vacation ownership industry on July 3

THANK you for gracing us with your presence here this morning as we commence with our first public information and evidence-gathering session to find out more about the timeshare vacation club industry.

A panel comprising three eminent legal minds has been appointed by me together with the National Consumer Commission’s (NCC’s) task team to conduct this process.

The panel will be introduced to you soon.

Public hearings are probably the most important part of this inquiry journey. It’s an opportunity for consumers to participate and reveal their challenges to the inquiry panel so that the government can help the industry serve the South African people and its economy much better.

This inquiry is a fact-finding mission aimed at unearthing challenges so that the missteps of the vacation ownership industry can be corrected.

This is but the first of several sessions that the NCC has planned for the next few months, to gather, collate, study, analyse and research all the information necessary for the panel to produce a report that will include recommendations to correct challenges for the benefit of consumers, and for a more just dispensation and better functioning of South Africa’s economy.

The Department of Trade and Industry and the NCC have over nearly two decades received several thousand complaints from consumers, particularly about the points system, contracts in perpetuity that are not governed by the Consumer Protection Act, unreasonable property levies, unavailability of accommodation and many other issues.

We have tried by reasonable means and measures to assist consumers with these complaints, but as its stands, the issues never seem to stop. It is this kind of behaviour by the vacation ownership industry that has prompted us to resort to a public inquiry to compressively deal with all consumer issues to find a permanent solution for them.

I now call upon affected consumers, particularly those who have pending complaints with the NCC or any other statutory regulatory body, to come forward and participate in these public hearings.

We will be going to every province to engage with consumers.

Any other member of the public who can assist us with information is encouraged to contact the inquiry panel so that we can engage with you and get to the bottom of all consumer issues.

I have briefed the inquiry panel, as well as the NCC’s task team, and they know what is expected of them.

To the team, I wish you all the best in your work and look forward to receiving a final report which will be used as the basis for corrective action. I thank you.

Mohamed is encouraging aggrieved consumers, particularly those who have pending complaints against the National Consumer Commission or any other statutory regulatory body, to participate in the public hearings.

He is also appealing to whistle-blowers and any other member of the public who have information that could assist the panel in its work to step forward.

In this regard, he says arrangements can be made for confidential submissions by contacting the inquiry panel on timeshareinquiry@thencc. org.za