30th April, 2020
A South African face mask distributor has been fined 11 million rand ($608,827) for inflating prices of essential products during the coronavirus pandemic, the Competition Commission said on Thursday.
The company, MATUS, which supplies and distributes masks, overalls, hand sanitizers and other protective gears agreed to pay the fine, after conceding that it hiked its prices during the lockdown.
“MATUS has agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R5.9 million after it admitted to inflation of its gross profit margins with regards to essential hygienic products,’’ Competition Commission spokesperson, Sipho Ngwema, said on Wednesday.
Ngwema said the company would also contribute R5 million to the Solidarity Fund for COVID-19.
“Further, it will, with immediate effect, reduce its gross profit margin on dust masks to acceptable levels for the duration of the state of national disaster,’’ he noted.
Report says the fine follows an investigation, which established that the firm had inflated prices of dust masks.
“Subsequently, the commission found that MATUS unreasonably increased the prices of dust masks, resulting in excessively inflated gross profit margins in contravention of the Competition Act,’’ Ngwema said.
He added that the commission also concluded consent settlements with a number of small independent retailers and pharmacies relating to the contravention of the regulations.