JOHANNESBURG, March 31 (Xinhua) -- South African Competition Commission has received a total of 559 complaints from consumers related to inflating of prices since the government declared the national state of disaster, said the organization on Tuesday.
"The balance of the complaints are against retailers and suppliers for charging excessive prices for products related to COVID-19 essentials. The majority of the complaints related to hand sanitizers and face masks, followed by toilet paper, flu medication and other products," said the commission's head of communication Sipho Ngwema.
He stated that they are prioritizing those cases against national retailers and suppliers and those complainants are essential services professionals, such as doctors, dentists and police.
"The complaints are under expedited preliminary investigations, with respondent firms given 48 hours to confirm or rebut the allegations. The Commission has issued over 100 such letters to national retailers, suppliers and independent retailers," said Ngwema.
"The Commission has also noted with concern the spiralling prices of agricultural products such as wheat, white maize, sunflower seeds, carrots, onions and tomatoes. There have been complaints streaming in the week in relation to these basic food products, whose spiralling prices hurt the poor the most," he said.
The Commission said those caught charging excessively would be fined 10 percent of their annual turnover for the first offence and 25 percent for the repeated offence. Directors of companies could be jailed up to 10 years for price fixing.
