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Sphesihle Nxumalo

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Sphesihle Nxumalo is a director designate in Baker McKenzie's Antitrust & Competition Practice Group in Johannesburg.
His experience spans the entire spectrum of antitrust and competition law across Africa.
Sphesihle has a wealth of experience partnering with clients and businesses to devise novel and business-oriented solutions to their merger control, antitrust and competition law needs and requirements. He advises and represents blue-chip multinational companies on high-value and complex antitrust matters and merger transactions that are highly technical and unique in nature across all key African countries.
His experience spans several industries including private equity, telecommunications, media, technology, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, financial institutions, automotive, industrials, petroleum, mining and construction.

The 2025 Export Block Exemption, introduced by South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, provides a five-year legal framework allowing firms to coordinate strategically in export markets — such as through joint marketing, logistics, and infrastructure development without breaching competition laws. Aimed at countering rising global tariffs and trade barriers, the exemption includes strict safeguards against anti-competitive conduct and mandates the inclusion of historically disadvantaged persons (HDPs) and SMMEs in all agreements. By enabling collective action, the exemption seeks to enhance the global competitiveness of South African exports while promoting inclusive economic participation.

Competition authorities the world over have observably expanded their consideration of transactions from applying a purely competition-focused lens to one that incorporates the broader needs of society. Many African merger control regimes have developed a competition policy approach that balances traditional competition law considerations with public interest concerns, especially in terms of market concentration, access to competitive markets for small and medium enterprises and employment considerations.

The Competition Commission in South Africa recently published a Practice Note on the Promotion of Competition and Inclusion in Supplier Panels of Banks and Insurers. This Note is intended to guide Banks and Insurers on the best practices and pro-competitive principles that can be applied when appointing suppliers to Supplier Panels (including conveyancing and automotive panels). Banks and Insurers should take measures to comply with this guidance, as non-compliance could attract enforcement action.

It has been noted that the price volatility of essential food items in South Africa is under the watchful eye of the competition authority in South Africa. This is after legal interventions intended to guard against price increases during the pandemic were repealed when the National State of Disaster ended in early April 2022. At the same time, businesses that operate in the Consumer Goods and Retail sector are dealing with ongoing supply chain disruption.

The termination of the National State of Disaster in South Africa means that regulations and directions that were made to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in terms of the Disaster Management Act are effectively repealed. Part of the interventions made by the government were Competition Law block exemptions issued by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition in South Africa to aid government programs designed to fight COVID-19. As such, any agreements or concerted practices between parties in the affected industries, which may contravene the Competition Act, will no longer be exempted from the Act’s provisions.

The South African Competition Commission recently released its Economic Concentration Report, which highlights patterns of concentration and participation in the South African economy. The Report includes details on the Commission’s power to launch market inquiries into highly concentrated industries, as well as its increased authority to impose structural remedies on businesses in these sectors.

Draft guidelines to the COMESA Competition Regulations, 2004 were published for public comment in October 2021. The guidelines are intended to provide clarity, transparency and certainty on the policies and procedures of the COMESA Competition Commission. Based on international best practice, they address the determination of fines and administrative penalties, as well as settlement and hearing procedures.