COVID-19 Price Gouging Cases in South Africa: Short-term Market Dynamics with Long-term Implications for Excessive Pricing Cases

COVID-19 Price Gouging Cases in South Africa: Short-term Market Dynamics with Long-term Implications for Excessive Pricing Cases 

John Oxenham, Michael-James Currie, Charl van der Merwe 

 

• In July 2020, the South African Competition Tribunal handed down two decisions in relation to contested ‘price gouging complaints’ namely, Dis-Chem and Babelegi.

• Despite being framed as excessive pricing cases under ‘anti-price gouging regulations’ published in March 2020, the price increases took place prior to the promulgation of the regulations and were ultimately assessed under the traditional ‘excessive pricing’ framework.

• This paper explores both decisions and, in particular, the Tribunal’s approach to assessing ‘dominance’ in the context of a National Disaster and what these decisions mean for excessive pricing cases post Covid-19.