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The school uniform scam Batandwa Malingo, The New Age, Johannesburg, 6 November 2014 The Competition Commission has accused schools of ripping off parents by forcing them to buy uniforms from particular traders. Hundreds of private and public schools around the country have been directing parents to exclusively buy school uniforms for their children at certain stores, claiming they were their "official" shops. Parents have themselves complained that children's clothes at the particular stores were more expensive than at other shops and supermarkets. A parent who has a daughter at a high school said when she compared the prices she found the school's choice of a shop to be 100% more expensive than others. The commission has revealed that it was investigating certain schools and stores and warned that those in the wrong would find themselves in hot water if they continued the practice. Commission spokesperson Mava Scott said the schools enter into long-term exclusive agreements with manufacturers of their school clothing and in doing so contravene certain provisions of the Competition Act. The New Age can reveal that Vorentoe High School in Johannesburg is one of the schools forcing parents to buy uniforms from a particular shop in Auckland Park. Scott said there were schools that had long-term agreements with shops. In Grahamstown almost all the private schools tell parents to buy at a certain shop, leaving other small manufactures high and dry. The store used by Graeme College is known to The New Age and the school has confirmed the fact. The reason given was that they wanted to have the same colours at the school as sometimes products from different shops age differently. Amanda Xaso, who went to Holy Cross Education Centre in Mthatha, said the shops aligned with the schools were too costly. "They tell pupils to buy at this store, and a pair of socks cost R80, while there are identical socks for R20 at other shops," Xaso said. Cosas president Collen Malatji said they had been calling on the government to supply free uniforms in public schools. "They must supply uniforms as they do with stationery," Malatji said. Attempts to get a comment from the education department were unsuccessful. The commission's Scott said besides ripping off the parents the severe consequences were those suffered by small businesses which could grow the economy of those areas. "These businesses block the growth of small businesses in the textile industry, it is not only parents who are affected but the entire community because of two or three people who decides to get into business." Scott said parents do not have a choice at the moment but to obey the rules of the schools. "The commission has started engaging with the government and school governing bodies regarding the anti-competition effects from these exclusive agreements for school uniforms." [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/ For your free subscription to the on-line edition of The New Age, CLICK HERE <http://www.thenewage.co.za/tnasubscription/productcart_digital.aspx?2produc t8=8-1> -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
