Zimbabweans who own OpenView decoders smuggled from South Africa are liable to arrest and prosecution as the decoders are only licensed for use in South Africa.
Antonio Lee, the COO of Openview parent company eMedia Group, commended the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) following the arrest of eleven people over the past two weeks for smuggling the decoders.
Importing Openview decoders from South Africa into Zimbabwe is illegal as it violates customs, trademark and copyright laws.
Lee said they are working with other SADC countries to bring to an end the illegal trade in OpenView decoders. Lee said:
We commend the Zimbabwe police on their detective work in breaking the smuggling ring and making the arrests.
We are working with law enforcement in several SADC countries to share information about the illegal trade in our decoders.
We look forward to more major busts and more arrests being made soon.
Anyone purchasing an Openview decoder in Zimbabwe is robbing the country of customs duties.
They can expect no after-sales service. Also, Zimbabwe’s TV professionals suffer when viewers watch foreign content instead of homemade Zimbabwean shows.
Several national and international laws are being broken if you use pirate decoders.
You will get no customer support, they can be switched off at any time, and you are engaging in illegal, criminal activity that makes you liable to arrest and prosecution.