The Competition and Consumer Authority(CCA) has directed Commercial Farmers in the Tuli Block area to supply local hawkers with farm products after they restricted supply of their agricultural produce to big retail chain supermarkets mostly originating from South Africa.
This was revealed during a press conference commemorating World Competition Day under the Theme: ‘Prioritizing Socially Sensitive Sectors.’ This marked the 43rd anniversary of the commemoration.
Under the Competition Law, CCA is empowered to promote small businesses(Small, Micro Enterprises – SMME’s) by addressing matters that have the potential to restrict SMME’s to participate in the market fairly. This also predicated CCA decision to allow new entrants in oil sector to compete for tenders.
“The Authority’s conditional approval of the Vitol/Engen merger highlights the commitment of the CCA in aligning its public interest mandate with Government’s broader citizenship empowerment mandate,” said Tebelelo Pule, Competition and Consumer Authority(CCA), Chief Executive Officer(CEO).
She said, “Ordering a divesture of the merged entity’s 40 fuel service sites would ensure that there is a significant dilution of the merged entity’s presence in the distribution of fuel and mostly importantly allow for new entry and expansion by citizens in this market.”
According to officials, a merger notification is triggered by the target enterprise meeting the minimum threshold of BWP 10million revenue/assets.
If following the merger, the market share of the merger entity exceeds 20%, then the proposed merger must be notified – section 47 of the Competition Act of 2018.
The CCA therefore rejected the Dulux/Plascon merger because it would lead to a market dominance scenario.
“The approval of the merger between two of the globes leading paint manufacturers would invariably lead to dominance by the merged entity to the detriment of the growth/expansion of existing citizen owned pain manufacturers as well as making it difficult for new entrants to penetrate this market,” said Pule.
The Authority has handled a total of 434 mergers, 374 were unconditionally approved, 56 approved with conditions and 4 were rejected.
