Spoornet denies ‘secret pricing’ allegations

LEONARD NEILL SPOORNET HAS rejected claims from some sectors of the business community that it is employing ‘secret pricing’ which favours larger corporates to the disadvantage of smaller companies. “Yes, we do have a pricing policy, but it does not prejudice anyone,” Harry Mashele, Spoornet general manager corporate affairs, told FTW. “We offer prices to customers based on Spoornet’s cost of providing that service. This is a totally acceptable practice based on a market-driven approach. There is nothing secret or sinister about it. In business it is normal practice to negotiate special prices when larger volumes than average are being handled. This enables us to keep costs lower for bulk consignments. “There is no way that smaller businesses are affected by this sort of deal. They are all offered the same general tariff pricing which applies to all customers.” A South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) statement this week claimed that the implementation of what it termed ‘new discriminatory pricing policies’ allowed Spoornet to negotiate secretly with individual customers on prices, which could be to the disadvantage of smaller companies. This followed last week’s announcement of the rail utility’s blueprint aimed at beefing up its services in general. Spoornet’s chief executive Dolly Mokgatle will be meeting the major business concerns, including Sacob, to clear up the misunderstanding, says spokesman Mike Asefovitz. He confirmed that the South African Chamber of Milling and some individual companies had raised concern following the policy announcement.