The Competition Commission is looking into high uniform costs as reports of parents spending thousands of rands on unique school clothing pieces emerge.<\/p>\n
Khanyisa Qobo, a divisional manager at the Competition Commission, told SAfm<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>that the price of school uniforms is seemingly often tied to the fact that schools prefer one supplier.<\/p>\n After market analysis, the divisional manager noted that high prices are also a result of inflationary pressures in the supply chain.<\/p>\n The commission has urged schools to encourage competition in the market by revising contracts with suppliers who may make unique pieces of clothing, such as blazers or tracksuits.<\/p>\n Contracts must be under consistent scrutiny and not evergreen, added the commission.<\/p>\n “We see that single suppliers typically sell unique items, so we encourage more competitive procurement and periodical analysis of suppliers,” Qobo said. When dealing with more generic pieces of clothing, she said the commission wishes for schools to broaden their options regarding suppliers.<\/p>\n Qobo said the situation has improved since a few years back, with greater awareness and increasing levels of compliance with competition principles; however – the prices are still causing parents headaches.<\/p>\n In 2021, the commission published a national guideline on school uniforms. Senior associate Mia de Jager at law firm Adams & Adams, said that as far back as 2017, the commission launched an investigation into allegations<\/a><\/strong> of anti-competitive behaviour in the supply of school uniforms.<\/p>\n \u201cSmaller suppliers felt that they were being excluded from competing in the school uniform market due to long-term exclusive supply agreements between schools and selected suppliers. The problem, as the Commission later unearthed, was pervasive,” said De Jager.<\/p>\n The commission found that exclusive supply agreements in the school uniform market allowed suppliers to charge higher prices and prevent competition.<\/p>\n Juane van der Merwe, the deputy CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) told the Sunday Times<\/a><\/strong>, that parents would most likely have to pay more for uniforms this year unless their school governing bodies negotiated agreements with suppliers to fix prices over a longer period of time.<\/p>\n The power governing bodies have in South African schools has been argued to be under threat.<\/p>\n In November last year, trade union Solidarity<\/a> <\/strong>said that new laws proposed under the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (BELA) are a ‘poorly veiled attempt’ by the government to centralise power within schools.<\/p>\n Solidarity said that government would end up in a position to undermine governing bodies.<\/p>\n
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