COMPETITION COMMISSION TO CURB OVERPRICING

THE Competition Commission says it will leave no stone unturned in clamping down on excessive pricing during the pandemic.

“The commission, in collaboration with the National Consumer Commission, will continue to prioritise Covid-19 cases and refer more for prosecution, including settlement and consent orders with respondent firms,” commission chairperson Tembinkosi Bonakele said yesterday.

He was leading a delegation from the commission to brief a joint meeting of parliamentary committees on work done by the commission.

The commission has received

1 354 complaints and tip-offs from the public on price gouging since the announcement of the state of disaster in March.

Bonakele said the complaints related to allegations that retailers, traders, suppliers and pharmacies were charging excessive prices for Covid-19related products. “These included masks and sanitisers, personal and certain essential goods and basic food items,” he said.

They had improved turnaround time to complete investigations which normally take three years to a week. He ascribed this to less time given to firms to respond to the complaints.

“I’m expecting many to appeal on the basis of the amount of time to respond to some of these,” Bonakele said. He told MPs that three trends were picked up from the complaints which included retailers, traders and suppliers increasing prices and margins in response to the increase in public demand and panic buying.