Matus was fined R11 million for inflating prices of essential hygienic items during the COVID-19 disaster.
The face mask distributor inflated prices of dust masks (FFP1 and FFP2 masks.
The Competition Commission announced late on Wednesday that it has found that Matus unreasonably increased the prices of dusk masks resulting in excessively inflated gross profit margins.
The country’s competition watchdog said this was in contravention of the Competition Act and Regulation 4 of the Consumer Protection Regulations.
“Matus has agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R5.9 million after it admitted to inflation of its gross profit margins with regards to essential hygienic products,” said the watchdog.
The company will also contribute R5 million to the Solidarity Fund for Covid-19 to the Solidarity Fund of Covid 19.
Further, it will, with immediate effect, reduce its gross profit margin on dust masks to acceptable levels for the duration of the state of national disaster.
Matus supplies and distributes personal protection equipment such as dust masks (including FFP1 and FFP2 masks), overalls, hand sanitizers, fire protective gear and first aid kits, among others. These are procured from local and overseas manufacturers.
