Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce (FSE&CC) Chief Executive Officer Bonisiwe Ntando says the country still needs to invest in building capacity of all stakeholders on issues of competition.

She said such capacity building should be geared towards raising awareness on competition law and the work of the Swaziland Competition Commission (SCC). 

Ntando said competition is healthy for any economy as it contributed to businesses efficiencies which are passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices, amongst other benefits. 

“Competition also encourages companies to continuously innovate so that they can stay ahead of the competition and offer products and services that cater for the needs of consumer and the target market. It is important to note that the basis of Competition Law – the Competition Act 2007 in the case of Swaziland is to keep monopolies in check, taking into account that the existence of monopolies is not necessarily the issue. 

The problem lies with monopolies that abuse their dominance in markets,” she said.  The CEO said therefore, the introduction of competition law and the establishment of the SCC was therefore a step in the right direction for Swaziland. 

She said the changes are already being witnessed as evidenced by recent announcements from the Commission itself. 

“However, it should be noted that the country still needs to invest in building capacity of all stakeholders on issues of competition. Such capacity building should be geared towards raising awareness on competition law and the work of the Commission. Through awareness sessions, the business community for instance will be in a position to know the importance of notifying the Competition Commission each time there are mergers or acquisitions or the sale of shares within their companies,” she said.

Ntando said most importantly, businesses would also be aware of the power of the Commission to reverse such transactions in situations where it has not been appropriately notified and also where negative impact to the economy are quite evident. 

Adding, she said the role of COMESA has been to assist in building regional capacity when it comes to competition issues. 

“We believe that the Swaziland Competition Commission and other stakeholders, including the media, have benefitted tremendously from the COMESA capacity building initiatives. Furthermore, the involvement of COMESA has also sensitised businesses in Swaziland to understand and frame issues of competition to be aligned to the regional context,” she said.

Ntando said through the Regional Integration Support Mechanism (RISM) under COMESA, Swaziland reports the progress it has made on competition issues, amongst other issues. 

Furthermore, she said the country could request for support in its efforts to promote what is required of the country under Competition Law. This exercise benefits the country in that it encouraged progressive work to be done on competition issues for the purposes of compliance with COMESA competition requirements.