COMMISSION AND TRIBUNAL
Competition watchdog excels at keeping business on leash
Most top companies in SA now take the competition authorities seriously
Andile Mngxitama, founder and leader of Black First Land First (BLF), arrived at the Department of Trade and Industry campus in Pretoria last Wednesday demanding a meeting with Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele. Mngxitama was told the commissioner would not be able to meet him and his entourage as he had pressing engagements. A planned press conference by BLF was subsequently abandoned. Mngxitama had apparently wanted to find out why the fines levied by the commission were not bigger and why it had not arrested anyone yet. By BLF’s measure the competition authorities, operational since 1999, have not been very successful – nobody has been thrown in jail. And no company has gone bust having to pay a fine, some of which have been eye-wateringly large. In the commission’s defence, the lack of arrests can be put down to the fact that cartel activity was criminalised only in 2016. But by that measure the authorities might never win BLF’s endorsement. Trudi Makhaya, CEO of Makh...
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