SCC GETS READY TO TAKE ON CARTELS

 MBABANE – In its quest to ensure a fair level playing ground for all businesses, SCC continues to upscale its capacity to undertake cartel investigations.

 The Swaziland Competition Commission (SCC) has reported that it attended an African Competition Forum (ACF) / Southern African Development Community (SADC) capacity building workshop on Cartel investigation skills held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which was organised by the ACF and hosted by the Fair Competition Commission (FCC) of Tanzania.

It was stated that the two-day workshop was facilitated by expert trainers from Botswana, South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya. Representing the commission was Chief Investigations Officer, Sheila Wamala. Wamala was amongst participants drawn from the Attorney General’s Chambers, Competition Authorities, Public Procurement, Communications Authorities, Competition Tribunal and the Media.

The practical and hands-on capacity building workshop focused on the needs of ACF member agencies.
Its main emphasis was on the preparation for and execution of dawn raids. The workshop included the execution of a mock dawn raid which was then evaluated to enable participants to conceptualize how a dawn raid should be carried out and some of the common mistakes made.

Competition

In his opening remarks, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment in Tanzania, Charles Mwijage (MP) said that competition is healthy especially for the consumers.  “Competition is also healthy for the investor because they have to innovate and make better quality products and allocate resources efficiently”, Mwijage explained.

He further explained that counterfeit and substandard products are produced because the customers want them due to poverty.  He added that “competition is about standards. We cannot say we have standards if we have substandard goods. There is need to discuss the cost of goods and marketing in order to be fair to both the consumer and the investor.”

On another note, the SCC’s Legal Advisor Thembelihle Dube has been appointed and sworn in as Board member of the COMESA Competition Commission.  This followed the end of term of the Commission’s CEO, Thabisile Langa, as Chairperson of the COMESA Competition Commission.

Being a member of the Board of the COMESA Competition Commission enables the SCC to participate in meetings that position it as a subject matter expert in competition law and provides opportunities to advocate for regional integration activities which benefit Eswatini as an African country. The commission is a member to a number of international cooperation frameworks including COMESA Competition Commission. International Cooperation among trading nations with regard to the implementation and enforcement as well as the harmonisation of competition law and policy is very necessary.

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