So Mail and Guardian has picked it up, with some interesting new twists which really add some fuel to the flames. http://mg.co.za/article/2016-06-08-bicycle-conspiracy-runs-out-of-road#.V2OAi4eilvQ.facebook Quoting the article: In response to an irate public comment on the website, Meltzer wrote that “the minutes on TheHubSA are not entirely the same as what was actually mentioned in this meeting. There are a lot of issues, which have been relayed, which have been incorrectly minuted. Do yourselves a favour, get on your bike and go enjoy yourselves.” The tribunal’s judgment reads: “One would have expected him in such circumstances to be enthusiastic to provide the tribunal with an explanation of his posts rather than leaving readers thereof with the impression that he ridiculed those who expressed outrage at the alleged collusion.” A fellow colluder, Fritz Pienaar of Fritz Pienaar Cycles, said he was “disappointed” that some industry players who had supported the proposal to increase margins distanced themselves from the decision when they saw how angry consumers were on TheHubSA. The brazenness with which the cycling industry organised itself into a cartel is startling. During the hearing last year, the tribunal heard testimony about meetings that were organised in 2008 to set the recommended retail selling price for all bicycles and parts. The agenda for a meeting held on September 10 2008 at the Midrand Conference Centre, which more than 200 people from the industry attended, states explicitly that the subject is “margins in the bicycle retail industry”. The agenda also refers to “proposed new mark-ups of 50% on bicycles and 75% on bike accessories”, and a proposed date, October 1 2008, on which to implement the increases. The mark-up at the time was 30% to 35% on bicycles and 50% on bicycle accessories. Revealingly, the last item on the agenda is “price-fixing concerns”. Pienaar confirmed at the tribunal that, as minuted, he said at the meeting: “Many of you are concerned that this may be some form of price-fixing; it isn’t and this is not illegal.” Pienaar was also implicated in allegations of threats and coercion against another bicycle wholesaler, Probike, which initially refused to be part of the meeting because of concerns about collusion. Probike did not attend the first two meetings, held in May and June 2008. Probike’s Brandon Els expressed his concerns about collusion to Pienaar in late August 2008 after being invited to the third meeting. Pienaar is alleged by Els to have responded with the threat of a group boycott against the wholesaler. “Mr Pienaar made it clear in my boardroom that retailers who attend the meeting would be encouraged to cancel their accounts with Probike if it did not support the initiative to raise the mark-ups,” Els told the tribunal. “I felt that he was threatening Probike to ensure we attended the meeting.” The tribunal’s judgment records: “According to Els, it was this threat that made him decide to send [Probike employee Dave] Wyatt to the September meeting.” But Pienaar denied threatening Probike. Following the publication of the minutes of the meeting on TheHubSA, Els said he distanced Probike from the proposed margin increases.
