Kaizer Chiefs marketing department and our trademark legal team, Edward Nathan and Friedland, have acted swiftly to stop the distribution of Kaizer Chiefs merchandise suspected of being counterfeits.

On Friday, 18 October 2002 a vehicle with registration number JNR573GP was stopped on the corner of Sivewright Avenue and Error Road in Doornfontein and identity and passport book covers suspected as being counterfeit were confiscated.

"This is the only way to protect our brand. There are unscrupulous business people out there trying to make money with the Chiefs logo without permission from the club. They order huge quantities of merchandise from the east, pay next to nothing for them and then they bring them into South Africa and make a fortune.

"The more we value our brand the more valuable it will become and as such we have resorted to drastic measures. If something is counterfeit. We destroy it," said Amakhosi brand manager Emy Casaletti-Page.

In a letter to the Chiefs marketing department, Edward Nathan and Friedland attorneys stated on Friday that good were confiscated and that the matter was now resolved.

"We contacted the suspect telephonically from the office of the Commercial Crime Unit and arranged to meet her at the Jeppe Police Station.

"On meeting her I handed her a Letter of Demand and gave her an opportunity to read it. Thereafter, I inquired from her as to whether she understood the contents thereof and would be prepared to voluntarily hand over the counterfeit items to us for destruction. I also cautioned her that should she fail to do so, criminal and court proceedings would be pursued against her. She agreed to hand over the goods to us.

"As previously advised, this is the most expedient way in which to proceed i.e. obtain voluntary handing over of the goods and not attempt to continue with a criminal case which can take several years to complete and which results in the goods having to be stored at a counterfeit goods depot which is not only extremely costly, but also risky in that the goods often go astray.

"We thereafter together with members of the Commercial Crime Unit went to a Johannesburg Metropolitan Town Council Solid Waste Disposal Site where I personally witnessed the incineration of the counterfeit goods."