The Congress of South African Trade Unions gives its full support to the three government ministers – Rob Davies, Ebrahim Patel and Tina Joemat-Pettersson – who are supporting SACCAWU’s appeal against the decision of the Competition Tribunal to approve the Massmart-Walmart merger.

The federation utterly condemns the statement of the Democratic Alliance attacking the ministers, and its absurd claim that “the real loser here is much needed competition in the retail space”. Walmart’s track record around the world shows that they destroy competition by abusing their vast size to drive rival companies out of business and create a virtual monopoly.

COSATU also fully agrees with the ministers, that “the Walmart acquisition of Massmart can have a potentially devastating effect on local jobs and the transaction should be sent back to the Competition Tribunal for a proper consideration and more effective conditions to be imposed”.

As Rob Davies points out, there is no evidence for Walmart’s claim in the Tribunal that it would create 15 000 retail jobs in the next three years. And any such jobs will be more than cancelled out by the jobs lost in other retail competitors and in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Ebrahim Patel rightly says that “tens of thousands of jobs could be lost in the local factories that currently supply Massmart and other local retailers”.

And indeed, Tina Joemat-Pettersson has revealed that already, “olive farmers in some parts of the country have been advised that they should no longer expect orders from Makro [a subsidiary of Massmart] for locally-produced olive oil, as they intend to import cheaper products”. As she says, “If unchecked, the shift to imports is likely to have a catastrophic effect on local farmers and agro-processing manufacturers.”

Yet the DA claims that the Walmart invasion is “a massive vote of confidence in South Africa as a gateway to the rest of the continent”! On the contrary it is a declaration of intent to pillage the continent of its resources, exploit cheap labour and establish a stranglehold over the retail sector throughout Africa, just as they have elsewhere in the world.

SACCAWU’s review is based on the fact that the Tribunal unreasonably denied the government departments’ access to information in the possession of the merging parties. It did not correctly interpret the Competition Act, which among others, aims to promote employment and advance the social and economic welfare of South Africans.

“The government departments have intervened to safeguard the public interest and in the accordance with the rule of law,” says Ebrahim Patel, and “The Competition Tribunal should be asked to reconsider the merger application, determine the extent of possible interest harm and to impose conditions that will fully and adequately address the harm.”

COSATU totally agrees with the ministers and will support them all the way.