KZN authorities clamp down on coronavirus profiteers

A Durban factory owner, accused of locking up more than a dozen workers for days on end and forcing them to make face masks, has been arrested, while another business owner in the city was arrested for alleged price gouging.

KwaZulu-Natal authorities descended on the factory in Glen Anil, north of the city, and arrested the man yesterday as part of a weekend crackdown on businesses suspected of flouting the law during the Covid-19 lockdown.

MEC for economic development and leader of government business in the province Nomusa Dube-Mncube said in a statement afterwards that more than 14 workers had been locked up inside the factory since last Monday.

Photographs from the scene showed people sleeping on makeshift beds inside what looked like a prefabricated structure.

“They were forced to manufacture hundreds of masks to meet the demand caused by the outbreak of coronavirus,” the MEC said.

KZN police spokespersonThembeka Mbele confirmed the arrest late yesterday.

Department of employment and labour spokesman Nhlanhla Khumalo said yesterday they were investigating contraventions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and that the accused would be issued with notices.

“We unfortunately cannot [at this point] divulge the details of the contraventions as this is an administrative action which requires the observation of confidentiality,” Khumalo said.

Dube-Mncube’s teams carried out a number of operations over the course of the weekend. Many of the targets were alleged price hikers.

In terms of strict new regulations and directives gazetted last week, unjustifiable price hikes during the Covid-19 disaster on essential items, including medical products like face masks, can now attract harsh penalties ranging from fines of R1 million or 10% of a business’ annual turnover to jail time of up to a year.

The MEC said yesterday that more than 500 investigations into various Covid-19 related contraventions had already been referred.

On Saturday, her teams visited a busy pharmacy which, she said, was charging excessive prices for hand sanitiser and face masks. “We established that their face masks retail at a very excessive price,” she said.

She said the pharmacy was charging as much as R780 for a single FFP1 mask. “Our investigations on this matter are ongoing. We have established that the Competition Commission is also investigating, so we will be collaborating with the Competition Commission and with the National Consumer Commission.”

Also on Saturday, teams visited Star Meats in Overport and arrested the general manager. “The investigation into this store emanated from 100 whistleblowers on our e-mail and complaint hotlines,” the MEC said yesterday.

She said the general manager had conceded to a 72% increase in the price of lamb, but blamed his supplier. He was arrested and released on R2,000 bail and is due before a court today on charges of contravening the Consumer and Customer Protection Act.

His advocate, Paul Jorgensen, instructed by Shamla Pather, yesterday said his client denied “any and all” allegations against him. Jorgensen said his client suspected the allegations “were the doings of a competitor”.

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za

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