Ramaphosa says competition policy needs to evolve

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa believes South African competition policy should evolve to grow the economy and dismantle economic ownership in the hands of a few.

“We must therefore measure the effectiveness of our competition policy by the extent to which it contributes to the undoing of the racial and gender dimensions of economic concentration‚” he said.

Ramaphosa spoke on Friday at the 11th Competition Law‚ Economics and Policy Conference hosted the Competition Commission at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg.

Competition commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said that according to a study they conducted‚ at least 70% of South Africa’s economic sectors were dominated by three or four large companies with an average market share of between 46% and 67%.

Ramaphosa said South Africa’s inclusive growth should focus on “those who were deliberately prevented from participating in the economy of their country.”

“We must create space for black-owned companies‚ small and medium enterprises to flourish. Unless we open up that space all the resources we invest in our economy will be of no or little value‚” he said.

Ramaphosa said anti-competitive behaviour was unfair‚ unsustainable‚ immoral and destroyed lives.

“It reduces the economic contribution of many people whose talent and energy and resources would otherwise have been gainfully employed for the greater good‚” he said.

Ramaphosa said the racial economic policies of apartheid had to be addressed.

“Twenty-three years after our democracy‚ the moment has arrived for us to introspectively look at transforming this‚” he said.