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Three Cabinet ministers are now clearly driving an ideological agenda against Walmart, and misusing the competition authorities to do so. Ironically, the real loser here is much-needed competition in the retail space, where consumers are feeling an inflationary pinch and would benefit from a new entrant to compete with the dominant retailers in our market.

Ministers Rob Davies, Tina Joemat-Pettersson and Ebrahim Patel have missed no opportunity to intervene in the entry of Walmart into this country, despite the competition authorities approving the deal with conditions designed to protect South African jobs and businesses. The Ministers’ knee-jerk ideological opposition is damaging our reputation as an investment destination by creating uncertainty about what an investor actually has to do to enter the South African market.

Instead of appealing the Competition Commission’s decision, the government should welcome the deal as a massive vote of confidence in South Africa as a gateway to the rest of the continent. They should also accept the terms imposed on the deal by the Commission and welcome Walmart’s recent commitment to spend an additional R60bn on local procurement, open 23 new stores in the next eight months and create 15 000 new jobs in the next three years.

The conditions of the deal, together with Walmart’s commitments and the fact that the Commission has approved the deal on competition grounds, are all good news for South Africa. But the really big positive effect will be on competition in the retail space. The bottom line is that our economy needs more competition in almost every sector. This transaction is an important first step towards lower prices for all South Africans in at least one of them.