Pricing restraint needed in Vaal during Corona crisis

Organised business has urged the Vaal to now buy from local small business – but has also warned that prices should not be excessively hiked by owners to profit from the Corona virus crisis.
And all businesses and companies in the Vaal should take every step possible internally regarding the Corona virus to ensure labour stability and productivity is maintained.
Upward pricing pressure was to be expected in such a crisis on certain consumer goods but cases in which prices had doubled or more on items such as hand sanitiser and toilet paper were completely excessive, says the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC).
Great concern has erupted on the survival of especially SME’s (Small to Medium Enterprises) in the Vaal after President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced a State of National Disaster throughout South Africa on the Covid-19 pandemic.
GTCoC President Jaco Verwey expressed strong support for buying only at local business this week, saying SME’s such as grocers, butchers,hair salons and many others were almost irreplaceable if they were allowed to go under.
“Large chain stores and companies with a national footprint still have breathing space but the local entrepreneur needs the support of the community more than ever to survive. If a small business goes down it is almost impossible to revive,” said Verwey.
Business activist and GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger also emphasised this week that pricing restraint by all was necessary to ensure continued community support and confidence in local small business.
This was necessary from both a moral and virus-fighting perspective, he added.
“Several cases of excessive price hikes of up to 100% or more on essential consumer goods such as sanitisers have been brought to the GTCoC’s attention and we are appealing to all business to be reasonable in adjusting prices and to do so only when absolutely unavoidable, said Kritzinger.
Both Kritzinger and Verwey expressed concern for the poor during the Corona crisis, saying if prices on consumer good vital to preventing infection were too high for the poor to afford, then the impact of the pandemic could be much more severe.
“We are only really safe if we are all safe and that’s why we must buy local but also exercise restraint on excessive price hikes,” Kritzinger said.
Verwey said the GTCoC was looking into ways it could assist or advise businesses on how to deal with the pandemic with minimum social and labour instability, and impact on core productivity.
“Always remember that the Corona virus is the enemy, and not the person or employee or contractor living with the virus,” said Verwey.