Competition Commission Ready to Prosecute & Penalise Anti-Competitive Behaviour on School Uniforms

With just a few days before the start of the new academic year, the Competition Commission of South Africa said it is ready to prosecute and penalize suppliers and schools that engage in anticompetitive conduct on uniforms. 

The commission ran an educational and advocacy programs to gauge whether there is compliance on school uniform guidelines. 

It said the principle governing the guidelines include school uniform should be as generic and obtainable from as many suppliers possible. 

The commission also said schools should appoint more than one supplier in order to give parents more options and best prices for uniforms. 

Spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga said the Commission has published an educational pamphlet on the role that schools, SGBs and parents can play to help lower the price of school uniform and other learning-related material. 

“The Commission will continue to monitor compliance in this area. This will include a survey that will be rolled out in the next few weeks to assess the level of compliance.” 

The commission has urged the schools, governing bodies, parents and government to comply with the guidelines on school uniform.