Pioneer Foods has had its cake and is now having to eat Sasko GM Andries Goosen's words too after being found guilty of collusion by the Competition Tribunal last week. The company is being fined over R195-million for its part in the bread price-fixing scandal, almost R100-million more than Tiger Brands had to pay, as Pioneer was the only one of the four cartel members that claimed its innocence in the matter. Sounds like a lot of money, doesn't it? But when one considers it's only 10% of the company's bread-baking division's turnover in 2006, which came out of the consumers' pockets in the first place, perhaps it's not, seeing as the consumer won't receive a cent of it, nor see a drop in the price of bread. In fact, there's nothing stopping the company from hiking the price again to recoup this loss, which makes me wonder why the Tribunal doesn't make provision for this? Consumers are still paying too much for bread but are not likely to stop buying it since it's a necessary staple. Of course there are kids in disadvantaged areas who have to go without because their parents can't afford to buy bread for sandwiches. So while the rich are still getting richer, the poor go hungry. FoodBank SA however is looking to change this with the launch of a new initiative to partner with manufacturers and food producers to supply more food to its community food banks. I think Pioneer should be the first to step up and join the cause to give something back to the people.


Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor
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