Still no final whistle

It has been six years since investigations into construction cartels started, but the Competition Commission says it will be another year before it can finally close the book on this case.

The commission yesterday briefed parliament's portfolio committee on economic development on its work over the past 15 years.

Since 2009 the commission has fined companies such as Sasol and Telkom, along with bread, maize, cement and construction cartels, to the tune of R4.3-billion.

A divisional manager in the office of the commissioner, Wendy Ndlovu, said the first investigation into construction cartels had been initiated in February 2009 after the government had raised concerns about escalating costs connected to soccer World Cup projects.

She said that because the commission realised "we would never complete any other work if we have a full-scale investigation", it tried to speed up the process by offering to be lenient to anyone who brought "the skeletons to us".

The commission received a record 150 marker applications, which indicate companies' desire to investigate and participate in the process. Following an internal investigation, 65 applications for leniency were received.

So far, 15 firms who have come forward with information have reached settlement with the commission, netting it R1.46-billion.

But a further 24, mostly small and medium-sized companies that did not participate themselves, were implicated during the fast-track phase of the investigation.

Ndlovu said these cases would hopefully be completed by March next year , but this was subject to appeals, litigation and the availability of the Competition Tribunal to adjudicate.

Group Five is also yet to settle. The construction company is disputing four matters, one of which has already been referred to the tribunal for litigation.

The commission announced last month it would not be prosecuting Group Five for involvement in the Senzimer Cold Rolling Mill case.

Competitions commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said that, once cases had been finalised, victims could start filing civil claims to recover losses. He said so far Sanral and the City of Cape Town had begun such action.

An "industry-wide discussion" was required to ensure the collusion did not happen again, Bonakele said.

"There is still a huge infrastructure roll-out in South Africa and we are stuck with companies, especially the big ones, because they are the only ones with the capacity to do large projects."

Chief economist for the commission Liberty Mncube said that R250-million of the R500-million penalty imposed on Pioneer Foods for bread-price fixing was being used to help small agroprocessing firms enter the market. So far R215-million had been distributed in 38 deals, creating 2334 jobs.