COSATU welcomes the National Assembly’s passing of the Competition Amendment Bill

24 October 2018

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the National Assembly’s passing of the Competition Amendment Bill. The federation strongly supports the Competition Amendment Bill of 2018 and appreciates the processes of engagement at Nedlac ,as well as later in the Portfolio Committee in the National Assembly. These led to many substantial areas of agreement. The following areas are particularly supported by COSATU:

This Bill will undo the concentration in the economy by the old white boys club, who are keeping emerging black players out.

We believe that this bill will promote investment and lead to a reduction in prices in the SA economy.

We support the public interest section of the bill that will lead to a greater focus on jobs and the promotion of worker ownership.

We believe that the instances of collusion by mainly white owned apartheid style companies had flourished due to the previous economic practices. This bill seeks to end the rampant corruption by the old boys club, and bring the competition rules in line with many other developed countries.

COSATU is not surprised that the business constituency was not very forthcoming in the negotiations, as they would like to see the old regime continuing. The government must act more decisively to end the collusive and concentration practices in the SA economy, as many foreign investors are complaining about these practices. We look forward to the urgent processing of the bill so that transformation of the economy can be fast-tracked.

We now urge the NCOP to pass the bill speedily as it will help open up the economy, ensure greater competition, lower prices and spur badly needed economic growth.

Issued by Matthew Parks, Parliamentary Coordinator, COSATU, 24 October 2018