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The Competition Tribunal has fined a supplier of face masks to the South African Police Service (SAPS) R3.4 million for excessive pricing during the Covid-19 pandemic, it said on Friday.
Tsutsumani Business Enterprises CC was found to have charge excessive prices for the urgent supply of 500 000 face masks to the SAPS in April 2020. Now it has to cough up an administrative penalty of R3 441 689.10 within 30 business days.
The SAPS needed nine million masks per month for its staff at the time.
Tsutsumani denied the allegations of excessive pricing.
The case was the first excessive pricing case referred to the Tribunal by the Competition Commission in the context of tender process during the pandemic, according to the Tribunal.
In a statement, the Tribunal said Tsutsumani had contravened parts of the Competition Act, as well as Regulation 4 of the Consumer and Customer Protection and National Disaster Management Regulations and Directions in Government.
"The Tribunal has concluded that Tsutsumani enjoyed market power during the complaint period and was dominant in the market for the emergency procurement of masks by SAPS from suppliers registered on National Treasury’s Central Supplier Database who were able to satisfy the requirements of SAPS’s Request For Quotations ("RFQs"), to supply the masks within a very short time period," it said.
