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ARTICLE · 31 MARCH 2026

Dawn Raid Readiness. Lessons From PPC's Experience

Andersen in South Africa
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It's 7am on Thursday 3 August 2000 at the offices of PPC ("Pretoria Portland Cement Company Limited").

South AfricaAntitrust/Competition Law
Veronica Cadman
Veronica Cadman
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It's 7am on Thursday 3 August 2000 at the offices of PPC ("Pretoria Portland Cement Company Limited"). The early arrivals were puzzled to see a number of vehicles in the company's parking lot, containing unfamiliar individuals, accompanied by members of the SAPS and journalists and TV crews. The unknown individuals started broadcasting live from PPC's offices and the words "dawn raid", "Competition Commission", "one of the first, if not the first", "new act, the Competition Act," and "cement cartel" were mentioned. Before long, senior management had arrived to meet the members of the Commission, accompanied by the SAPS officials, who had arrived at PPC to execute a dawn raid authorised in terms of the Competition Act ('the Act"), which had only come into force two years before.

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