The proposed merger between Mediclinic Southern Africa and Matlosana Medical Health Services in the North West, nearly six years in the making, has once again been blocked, this time by the Constitutional Court.
Cape Times reports the court upheld the Competition Commission’s appeal against a decision by the Competition Appeal Court (CAC), setting aside the latter’s decision that would have allowed the merger. The commission and its tribunal had initially concluded that putting together Mediclinic Potchefstroom, Wilmed Park and Sunningdale hospitals could lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the relevant market. The Constitutional Court judgment essentially answered the question whether the CAC, in law, was correct in interfering as it did with the findings of, and remedy given by the Competition Tribunal.
The judgment by recently retired Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng read: “The equalisation and enhancement of opportunities to enter the mainstream economic space, to stay there and operate in an environment that permits the previously excluded as well as small and medium-sized enterprises to survive, succeed and compete freely or favourably must always be allowed to enjoy their pre-ordained and necessary pre-eminence.”
The commission welcomed the judgment. “This is a landmark and path-breaking judgment by the Constitutional Court in the history of competition law. The judgment unequivocally and emphatically vindicates the commission on two important principles – first, the centrality of the Bill of Rights in the interpretation of the Competition Act, and second, the principle of deference to the economic expertise of the Competition Tribunal,” said Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele.
mediclinic judgment
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Tribunal blocked Mediclinic merger over higher rates
Competition Tribunal rules against Mediclinic expansion in North West
SA 'needs divestiture' to free up the private healthcare market