Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday spoke out against anti-competitive behaviour, saying it prevents economies from realising their potential.
“Anti-competitive behaviour prevents economies from ever realising their potential. Competition policy in South Africa cannot be limited merely to the promotion of market efficiency. It must be an instrument to effect fundamental economic and social change,” said the Deputy President.
Speaking at the 11th Annual Competition Law, Economics and Policy Conference at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, Deputy President Ramaphosa said competition policy has a pivotal role to play in redressing the injustices of the past.
He said the Competition Act’s purpose is to provide all South Africans equal opportunity to participate fairly in the national economy and to promote employment and advance the social and economic welfare of South Africans.
“In short, the purpose of the Competition Act is to facilitate economic transformation that is radical, inclusive and sustainable,” he said, adding that the country inherited a racially skewed economy that had a few dominant players.
“Market dominance in the South African context, therefore, refers not only to specific sectors in which significant market share has been unfairly captured and retained by a few companies.
“It refers also to the concentration of ownership and control in the hands of white South Africans, specifically white men.”
For the most part black South African have been excluded from exercising control over the most important economic levers.
“We must therefore measure the effectiveness of our competition policy by the extent to which it contributes to undoing the racial and gender dimensions of economic concentration. Our competition policies should concern themselves not only with the conduct of companies, but also the structure of the market,” said the Deputy President. – SAnews.gov.za
