Asst. Minister of Trade and Industry Visits CA

The Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry Mr. Keletso Rakhudu visited the Competition Authority recently to familiarise himself with its operations. In his remarks, Mr. Rakhudu thanked the Authority for helping the Ministry of Trade and Industry attain the top position in Government Ministries for performance.  “If our statutory bodies were not performing we would not have attained number one position”, he said.

The Assistant Minister assured the Authority of the Ministry’s support in terms of legislation, and policy and resources to enable it to effectively carry out its mandate.  He reiterated that his Ministry would ensure that Government was compliant and did not engage in anti-competitive practices, noting that some business could be inadvertently driven out of the market by Government. “We may relax thinking Government will police itself with its policies but at implementation level individuals can defeat things”, he said.

Furthermore, Mr Rakhudu called on the CA to benchmark with other jurisdictions to see what interventions they put in place in case of anti-competitive conduct by Government. He also called on the CA to brief Government Ministries and Departments such as the Supplies Department which may not be aware of the new competition policy thrusts.

Mr. Rakhudu acknowledged that a competition authority is one of the most expensive entities to have in place, requiring a lot of knowledge and expertise, and that was one of the reasons why it took long to set up the authority.

Briefing the Assistant Minister’s delegation, the Chief Executive Officer of the Competition Authority Mr. Thula Kaira said the CA has already embarked on meetings with Government Ministries to familiarise them with the provisions of the competition policy and legislation. He also said one of the Authority’s roles is to advise Government.

Mr. Kaira briefed the Minister on the mandate of the CA, its structure and the process of investigations. He also briefed him about continental competition bodies such as the African Competition Forum, and international bodies such as the International Competition Network which the Authority closely works with. He concluded that any systematic frustration of competition would lead to both economic and social loss for any country in the long term.