Competition body promises relief on uniform costs
● Cash-strapped parents can breathe a sigh relief: the price of school uniforms is set to fall.
That’s the word from the Competition Commission, which confirmed it would introduce changes to make uniforms more affordable.
Commission spokesman Sipho Ngwema said an announcement to this effect was due in the next few weeks.
In December 2016, the commission announced a probe into South Africa’s school uniform monopolies, which leave parents having to cough up thousands of rands for new school kit even though similar items can usually be bought elsewhere at a fraction of the cost.
At the heart of the commission’s investigation into the R10-billion school uniform industry are long-standing “exclusive supplier” arrangements between school governing bodies, principals, retailers and manufacturers.
Ngwema said during its investigation, the commission conducted a survey that revealed that a large number of schools were not familiar with a circular issued by the Basic Education Department in May 2015 regulating school uniform purchasing.
The circular mandated that:
School uniforms should be as generic as ● possible so they could be obtained from as many suppliers possible;
Exclusivity should be limited to items ● that the school regarded as necessary to obtain from pre-selected suppliers;
Schools should follow a competitive ● bidding process when appointing suppliers and should appoint more than one supplier to give parents more options; and
Agreements concluded with suppliers ● should be of limited duration.
Ngwema said the commission had engaged with the department, various schools, school uniform manufacturers, distributors and other stakeholders to bring changes to the supply of uniforms.
This, he said, was done “so that the price of school uniform items becomes reasonable and affordable for parents”.
The survey was conducted at 1 595 schools, among 287 school governing bodies and with 414 parents.
The majority of schools interviewed — about 70% of both private and former Model C schools — indicated that they did not have exclusive agreements with uniform suppliers.
A price check at a national retailer found that a boy’s shirt, pants, shoes, pair of socks, jersey and blazer cost about R870, while a girl’s dress, jersey, blazer, pair of socks and shoes would cost about R845. However, parents of children at schools that have exclusive suppliers pay up to double the amount for a similar uniform.
The school uniform industry caters for about 15 million pupils at private and government schools.
Muhammed Patel, a manager at national school uniform manufacturer Gem Schoolwear, welcomed the investigation by the commission.
“We should not have a situation where we are stuck with one specific school uniform supplier. My sons are in school and they have three different suppliers and I have a choice where I want to buy. Now if you have isolated one place and they are charging high prices what do you do as a parent? Those schools colluding with one supplier should be penalised because it’s an unfair practice.”