SACP statement on the ruling by the Competition Commission

Anele Siwa
14 November 2007

The South African Communist Party has welcomed the judgement by the Competition Commission regarding the bread price fixing by Tiger Brands.

"This is a landmark ruling and should be welcomed, the SACP remains deeply worried of the extent to which we have inefficient competition rules and that our competition regime only picks up issues after the fact," says spokesperson Masilela Maleka.

“The SACP campaign to build sustainable livelihoods has pointed out to us how a majority of our people do not have access to at least one nutritious meal a day mainly due to excessive prices of basic food like bread, milk and vegetables,” says Maleka.

According to Maleka any efforts by the communities to either engage in these activities, be it through co-operatives, are suffocated by the power of monopolies in the food processing and agriculture industry.

"Furthermore, this is a sign of weakness in transforming the colonial nature of the South African economy," says Maleka.