South Africa: Trade Regulation & Practices

Africa's mobile technology market is undergoing significant regulatory transformation as telecoms authorities and operators advance reforms around spectrum allocation and next-generation connectivity. From Ghana's competitive 5G market opening to Nigeria's first telecoms policy review in over two decades, regulatory frameworks are being modernised to address data costs, service quality, and infrastructure deployment. These developments signal a shift where competitive advantage increasingly depends on spect

Competition authorities across Africa are intensifying enforcement through new merger thresholds, cartel investigations, and market studies targeting sectors from poultry to tourism. Recent developments include Egypt's expanded Competition Act penalties, Mauritius launching a cartel amnesty programme, and courts clarifying regulatory jurisdiction over financial institutions in Nigeria.

Merger Control Comparative Guide for the jurisdiction of South Africa, check out our comparative guides section to compare across multiple countries

On 20 July 2012 the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) issued reasons for its unconditional approval of the large merger between Gas Corporation of South Africa (SOC) Limited (PetroSA), Pioneer Natural Resources South Africa (Proprietary) Limited (Pioneer SA) and Petroleum South Cape (Proprietary) Limited (PSC).

On 20 July 2012 the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) issued its reasons for the conditional approval of the intermediate merger between Synergy Income Fund Limited (Synergy) and Khuthala Alliance (Proprietary) Limited (Khuthala).

On 24 July 2012 the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) unconditionally approved the large merger involving Life Healthcare (Proprietary) Limited (Life Healthcare) and Joint Medical Holdings Limited (JMH), following the Competition Commission's (Commission) recommendation to the Tribunal that the merger be prohibited.

Recently, the Competition Appeal Court (CAC) reversed the decision of the Competition Tribunal in the matter of Nationwide Poles CC and Sasol Oil (Pty) Ltd.

A case of alleged abuse of dominance recently came before the Competition Tribunal. South African Airways (SAA) stood accused of abusing its dominant position in one market (the market for air tickets sold through travel agents for domestic scheduled airline flights) to exclude competitors from a second market (the market of scheduled domestic airline flights).

The Competition Tribunal has recently considered the question of whether or not an anti-competitive merger can be saved on grounds that a firm is controlled by previously disadvantaged individuals, one of the 'public interest' grounds the tribunal is enjoined to consider in terms of Competition Act.