{"id":881509,"date":"2026-10-27T09:27:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T07:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=881509"},"modified":"2026-10-27T09:27:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T07:27:43","slug":"popular-fast-food-chain-in-south-africa-hit-with-r1-million-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/881509\/popular-fast-food-chain-in-south-africa-hit-with-r1-million-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular fast food chain in South Africa hit with R1 million fine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Braai Block has had a R1 million penalty imposed by the National Consumer Tribunal, which was upheld after its appeal was dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braai Block is a popular fast-food chain specialising in braai and braai-style foods, with 16 branches across Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur Simon Malikhanye Mabena, who is listed as its sole director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the chain fell foul of consumer protection laws in December 2024, when a disgruntled customer tipped the National Consumer Council (NCC) off about potential violations of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, the consumer alleged that Braai Block did not include the location of its trading address in its tax invoices. Secondly, Braai Block charged a service fee on each transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe service fee amount depends on each meal\u2019s cost and varies from transaction to transaction. The NCC then initiated an investigation,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following investigations, the NCC found that the group was in contravention of sections 23(6)(a) and 26(3)(b) of the Consumer Protection Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 23 relates to the disclosure of prices for goods or services, with subsection 6(a) stating that \u201ca supplier must not require a consumer to pay a price for any goods or services that is higher than the displayed price for those goods or services.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Section 26(3)(b) states that the sales record must include at least the address of the premises where the goods or services were supplied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The matter moved to the Consumer Tribunal, which ultimately found that Braai Block deceived its customers, violating significant provisions of the CPA. It fined the group R1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the order, Braai Block attempted to rescind the ruling, but the application was filed too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a June 2025 ruling, the Tribunal refused condonation for the late filing of the rescission application, having failed to “establish good cause or cover its full delay”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2026, the Tribunal dismissed an appeal of this ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tribunal noted further that the National Credit Act (NCA) applies strictly to orders granted in the absence of a party.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Consequently, the R1 million administrative penalty remains in force,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NCC welcomed the ruling, which was one of six rulings settled by the Tribunal and the High Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other judgments dealt with the conduct of car dealerships that failed to comply with the CPA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two rulings addressed suppliers of goods and services that failed to issue sales records, displayed goods written in a foreign language, and sold expired foodstuffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One judgment dealt with a travel group that refused a refund for a cancelled trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combined, the judgments covered penalties totalling R1.7 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Images of Braai Block and its food<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A R1 million fine on Braai Block for misleading its customers has been upheld by the Consumer Tribunal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":881520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2114983698579726436","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2250661085754290","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18097042727423915","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26948,6738,2787,26947],"class_list":["post-881509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-braai-block","tag-consumer-commission","tag-ncc","tag-penalty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881530,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881509\/revisions\/881530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}