Activist group opposes Solidarity Fund’s R20m grant to Dis-Chem

The 70s Group, made up of liberation activists of the ’70s, has urged a halt to the decision by the Solidarity Fund to grant Dis-Chem Pharmacies R20 million to expedite public testing for coronavirus.

Dis-Chem was recently found by the Competition Commission to have contravened the Competition Act by inflating the retail prices of face masks in some of its stores.

The commission has referred the matter to the Competition Tribunal for adjudication.

“While we have noted that the business entity has announced its intention to challenge this finding, we would strongly urge the Solidarity Fund to halt the awarding of this grant until such time that the Competition Tribunal has conclusively pronounced itself on the matter,” said 70s Group’s coordinator Saths Cooper.

He added that the fund should conduct its business in a manner that was beyond reproach, and always guided by the principles of openness and transparency.

“We trust that the Solidarity Fund will share our view that public trust and confidence are among the most potent weapons in the arsenal of our nation as we wage this war against the coronavirus pandemic,” Cooper said.

The commission wielded a big stick against companies that had increased their face mask prices by as much as 1 ,000%. Even small stores and big businesses had either doubled or tripled their prices for masks since the outbreak.

Individual citizens had resorted to making their own cloth masks or buying from small enterprises that sell for between R20 for the low end to R100 for the designer types.

According to the commission, Dis-Chem Pharmacies Ltd and Babelegi Workwear and Industrial Supplies had charged excessive prices for face masks. Babelegi hiked its price increase by 1 241% while the Dis-Chem increased the price by as much as 317%.

The commission has referred two major suppliers to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution for allegedly charging excessive prices on face masks.

Sicuro Safety cc and Hennox 638 cc t/a Hennox Supplies allegedly inflated their prices for the Filtering Face Piece 1 (FFP1) by more than 969.07% and 956%, respectively. They could not explain their overpricing of the masks to the commission.

Earlier a face mask firm, Matus – which was referred to the tribunal for inflated prices – agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R5.9 million, contribute R5 million to Solidarity Fund and immediately reduce its gross profit margin on dust masks to acceptable levels.

–ericn@citizen.co.za

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