Competition Commission settles with Lafarge, South Africa

South Africa’s Competition Commission has reached a settlement with Lafarge for being part of cement cartel.

Lafarge is to pay an administrative penalty of ZAR149m, or six per cent of its 2010 turnover in the South African Customs Union (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Nambia). The agreement follows a settlement reached by the Commission with AfriSam which will pay a fine of ZAR125m, or three per cent of its turnover in the same period.
The commission has now vowed to pursue its case against the remaining member of the cartel, Natal

Portland Cement (NPC). The commission had earlier indicated that it would take both Lafarge and NPC to the tribunal as they were not in any further settlement talks at the time. Following the Lafarge agreement, only NPC will face the tribunal.