Competition in Africa: Insights from Key Industries

The chapters examine competition issues across countries in four very important sectors. In each of these sectors there are powerful multinational incumbent firms who, as is only to be expected, vigorously defend their conduct in light of critical scrutiny. The job of competition authorities is, however, to undertake just such scrutiny. The countries included here, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, all have relatively young competition authorities tasked with this work. In this regard, it is important to emphasise that the studies which formed the basis of the chapters of this book were research exercises and not investigations. The studies were conducted by independent researchers along with staff of competition authorities and the analyses are of the teams of researchers involved. The conclusions drawn reflect the information at the time of the studies. We further wish to highlight that in some cases the companies contested the findings of the researchers. The researchers took into account the representations made where appropriate. There has also been a rigorous blind review process.