The Competition Commission has slapped Matus, a company with operations in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban with a R11, million fine for price gouging.
The company distributes face masks and personal protection gear.
The Competition watchdog found Matus had inflated prices of essential hygienic items during the COVID-19 disaster.
The company then agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R5.9 million – the firm also agreed to donate R5 million to the Solidarity Fund set up by government for COVID-19.
The Commission’s spokesperson, Sipho Ngwema, said the regulator has also concluded numerous consent settlements with small independent retailers and pharmacies with regards to COVID-19 cases.
“The small companies, largely pharmacies and hardware stores, excessively inflated their prices of essential hygienic products like sanitisers and face dust masks who only sold in March 2020 with excessive mark-ups or gross profit margins. Most of these shops did not sell these products before March this year,” Ngwema said.
“These retailers, as part of the settlement, will reduce prices to appropriate levels and will contribute various amounts or essential hygienic items, based on the merits of each case, to charity organisations nominated or approved by the Commission, including the Solidarity Fund for COVID-19.”
Listed group Dis-Chem is today the biggest retailer to be taken to task for hiking prices for face masks since the outbreak of COVID-19 in South Africa.
