Cosatu's Walmart presentation stymied

Cape Town - Large chunks of Cosatu president Sidumo Dlamini's presentation at parliament's public hearings into the Walmart/Massmart Holdings [JSE:MSM] deal had to be deleted because they related directly to the appeal still to be heard.

Starting the second day of the public hearings, Portfolio Committee on Economic Development chairperson Elsie Coleman had to intervene several times to ask Dlamini to skip parts of his presentation, as she felt they would contravene a parliamentary rule prohibiting the legislature from hearing testimony directly related to a court case.

Cosatu-affiliated union the SA Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) has lodged an appeal against the Competition Tribunal's approval of the R16.5bn deal.

Saccawu was due to deliver the next presentation on Thursday morning, followed by the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union, with Massmart/Walmart due to present at around noon.

During his presentation Dlamaini suggested that Walmart would retrench workers, even though it has denied it.

"Despite what they have said, they know this thing is coming," he said.

Dlamini also said the competition authorities' action against what he termed an oligopoly in the food industry that resulted in hefty fines being levied against companies such as Tiger Brands and others was an example of big companies' unethical behaviour.

To illustrate Cosatu's point that the free market was not the best method for getting fair pricing, Dlamini cited the example of the US beef industry that showed that workers and farmers earned less than 10% of the final price.

Coleman expressed her sympathy with Cosatu's presentation, saying she appreciated that the topic raised considerable emotion within the unions.

"Although some of your points related to the merits of the case, I let them go as they related to general issues as well," she said.