Recruitment specialists charged for collusive tendering
The Competition Commission has decided to prosecute three advertising practitioners specialising in recruitment advertising services for price fixing, market division and collusive tendering.
Commission spokesperson Sipho Ngwema says this follows an investigation by the commission which found that Human Communications (Pty) Ltd (Human Communications), Kone Staffing (Pty) Ltd (Kone) and Jobvest (Pty) Ltd (Jobvest) discussed and agreed on prices at which to quote their customers.
He says the respondents' services include linking job seekers to potential employers and assisting their clients place advertisements in newspapers.
Ngwema says they also receive and process responses to the advertisements on behalf of clients.
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The companies' main clients are government departments and municipalities.
Ngwema says an agreement to engage in collusion is presumed among the respondents, as they had a director in common between 2006 and 2015.
He says the commission is of the view that the respondents were engaged in horizontal restrictive practices (a relationship between competitors at the same level).
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The Commission has referred the matter to the Competition Tribunal for prosecution.
"As the commission we remain steadfast in our commitment to rooting out collusive and anti-competitive practices which impact negatively on South Africa's quest towards an inclusive economy and job creation," says Competition Commissioner, Tembinkosi Bonakele.