The Competition Tribunal has confirmed a consent agreement between sunflower seed crusher the Willowton Group and the Competition Commission, ending prolonged litigation between the parties since 2016.
 
The consent agreement, confirmed as an order by the tribunal, ends years of legal disputes over allegations of price fixing and market division in the edible oils sector. This includes a settlement amount of R1-million by Willowton and public-interest commitments valued at R100-million over the next five years.
 
The case dates back to December 2016 when the commission launched an investigation into Willowton and other firms in the edible oils sector, including Wilmar, FR Waring, Africa Sun Oil, Epic Foods, Sea Lake and Unity Food Products for alleged price fixing and market division, in contravention of the Competition Act.

The investigation focused on claims of collusion to fix prices and divide markets for edible oils, including baking fats and margarine, allegedly going back to 2007.
 
Despite a series of legal challenges by Willowton and protracted litigation, Willowton and the commission have reached an agreement, which the tribunal has confirmed as an order.

The public-interest commitments Willowton has agreed to pay, aggregating to an amount of R100-million over the next five years, include an undertaking that an education trust will be set up as the Shoaib Moosa Education Trust or Dawood Hassam Moosa Education Trust. 
 
The education trust will be set up as a bursary fund and Willowton will donate a total amount of R20-million over five years.
 
These funds will be available for tertiary education students who are most in need of financial support and who are historically disadvantaged persons from underprivileged schools. The recipients of such bursaries will comprise at a minimum 60% female students.

Willowton has also agreed to, within 90 days of confirmation of the agreement as an order of the tribunal, advertise in national newspapers, electronic media and on social media platforms, the details of the bursary fund inviting applicants to submit applications.

The agreement will also see Willowton undertaking to make a donation of food products and groceries manufactured by it to the value of R30-million over five years.

The objective of this commitment is to address hunger and poverty in the most underprivileged communities, and therefore, Willowton's food and grocery donations will be to registered non-governmental (NGOs) and non-profit organisations (NPOs) that cater for historically disadvantaged persons.
 
Willowton will have to, within 30 days of confirmation of the agreement, advertise the donation by calling upon qualifying NGOs and NPOs to submit applications for donation. 
 
The commission will need to be informed of and approve the organisations that will be responsible for the administration of these commitments.

Finally, Willowton has also committed to procuring products and services, including logistics services, from Level 1 broad-based black economic empowerment-owned companies to the value of R50-million over the next five years. 

Despite the agreement, Willowton has denied that it ever contravened the Competition Act as alleged by the commission.
 
Owing to the High Court litigation, the investigation and resolution of this matter was delayed, with no findings made.

However, both parties agreed to settle the matter to bring the costly and prolonged litigation to a conclusion.

“Reaching a settlement is in the best interest of all parties involved and will enable the Willowton Group and the commission to resolve longstanding disputed litigation, to put these matters to rest and to move forward constructively,” the parties jointly said on February 17.

Under the terms of the consent agreement confirmed by the tribunal, Willowton has agreed to refrain from engaging in any anticompetitive conduct that may be in contravention of the Act in future and to develop and implement a competition law compliance programme as part of its corporate governance framework.
  
Willowton has consented to withdrawing its review application in the North Gauteng High Court with each party bearing its own legal costs.