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South African Regulator Flooded With Unfair Pricing During COVID-19

By  |  May 19, 2020

The Competition Commission of South Africa stated that it had been flooded with complaints about huge mark-ups on basic food items and COVID-19 supplies such as face masks and sanitizer.

Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele told a joint virtual meeting of Parliament’s Trade and Industry committees that they’d received 1,354 notifications about unfair pricing so far.

Bonakele said that the Competition Commission had prioritised all cases relating to COVID-19 for expedited investigation and referral to the Competition Tribunal and said that it was operating in collaboration with the National Consumer Commission.

“We’ve received a number of complaints since the declaration of the national disaster. There was a lot of panic buying just a few days before and suppliers increased prices. From then on we’ve seen a flood of complaints. We’re standing at 1,354.”

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