There's no doubt that counterfeit goods are bad for our economy. I'm glad small business development minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni is tackling the matter head on.

As much as she acknowledges that problems with counterfeit goods shipping starts at the border, she didn't go far enough.

Registering informal businesses sounds good at face value but when one looks deeper, there are serious complications. For a start, some of the informal traders are illegal immigrants.

There's nothing that would encourage them to even try to formalise their businesses by registering them. Some of the informal businesses work on a pop-up basis, as seen at big sporting events. It's also a fact that some informal traders are a front for the drug trade.

All in all, for the minister's plan to succeed it hinges on other factors. We need to tighten security at our borders to keep counterfeit goods out of the country. We need to fight the drug trade seriously.

To me, this means as a country we'll have to do something we have never done before: to confront problems head on. All these years since 1994, we have chosen to be politically correct and that has landed us in the mess we are in. SA is the only country I know of that is ashamed of policing its borders.

What happened in the Joburg CBD last week should never happen again. Anyone who disrespects police deserves to be jailed, period.

Richardson Mzaidume,Pimville