Navigating Africa’s Transformed Competition Law Environment

The year 2025 may well be remembered as the moment Africa’s competition law landscape fundamentally shifted. What was once a fragmented patchwork of regulators and uneven enforcement has evolved into a fast-moving, increasingly assertive network of authorities shaping how businesses merge, compete, and treat consumers across the continent.

Across regions and national jurisdictions, regulatory reforms accelerated, enforcement intensified, and policy ambitions expanded. For companies operating in Africa, the message is clear: competition compliance can no longer be a peripheral concern but is rather central to deal-making, market conduct, and long-term strategy.

A rapidly expanding regulatory maze

Regulatory density grew markedly as Africa’s regional bodies strengthened their mandates and national authorities modernised domestic frameworks.

The most consequential development came from the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which replaced its 2004 regulations with a sweeping new legislative framework that came into force in December 2025. The updated rules modernise the region’s approach and introduce tools for digital mergers, gatekeeper platforms, economic dependence, and environmental considerations, while significantly clarifying procedure and expanding enforcement strength. For companies operating in multiple member states, this represents both a clearer framework and a higher‑stakes environment.

In East Africa, the East African Community Competition Authority activated its mandatory, suspensory merger regime in November 2025 and already has a number of merger notifications under review. A foremost challenge with the regime, however, is its uneasy coexistence with national member states and COMESA. Without formal accession by national authorities, further complicated by overlapping COMESA jurisdiction, dual filings, at least for now, remain a practical and costly risk.

West Africa saw its own complexity deepen. The ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority completed its first operational year, including a high-profile conditional approval in the Canal+/MultiChoice transaction. But its jurisdiction overlaps with both national systems, especially Nigeria, and the WAEMU competition framework, resulting in a fragmented ecosystem that requires careful navigation.

Meanwhile, at the national level, new or revitalised competition regimes emerged in Burundi, Benin, Djibouti, The Gambia and Togo. Others, including Uganda, Namibia and South Africa, are refining or have refined thresholds and filing fee structures. Whilst merger control remains dormant in only a handful of other countries (including in the DRC), 2025 marked significant momentum toward continental coverage.

Merger control: more filings, stricter oversight, and higher penalties

Merger reviews increased across Africa, driven partly by foreign-to-foreign deals with an African nexus. COMESA recorded 56 filings in 2024, nearly double those in 2023. Zambia and Zimbabwe saw similarly marked increases.

More striking was the tougher stance on compliance:

• COMESA imposed penalties for late filings (demonstrating a willingness to prosecute even procedural breaches)

• Morocco sanctioned Vitaris for failing to notify a global transaction

• Zimbabwe reinstated a USD 9 million gun-jumping penalty against Innscor

• Angola and Botswana took decisive action against prior implementation

At the same time, substantive analysis grew more sophisticated. South Africa’s Competition Appeal Court reversed the prohibition of the Vodacom/Maziv merger, emphasising extensive commitments that advance access, inclusion and economic opportunity. ERCA’s conditions in the Canal+/MultiChoice merger focused on content diversity, distribution access and price monitoring.

Across Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, clearance decisions increasingly hinge on public-interest conditions such as security of employment, local beneficiation, SME participation, and citizen ownership, emphasising that in Africa, socio-economic criteria are just as significant as competition law considerations in the merger review process.

Behavioural enforcement: cartels, vertical restraints and consumer harm in the spotlight

Authorities across the continent continued to intensify action against cartel behaviour. In Kenya, the Competition Tribunal upheld record fines in a steel‑sector cartel and confirmed that passive participation (i.e., remaining silent in the face of collusive communication) establishes liability, with total penalties reaching USD 2.3 million. Criminal actions, across sectors ranging from agriculture to media and advertising, were initiated in Egypt. The Namibian Competition Commission entered into a settlement agreement with the Payment Association of Namibia for alleged price fixing.

Vertical restraints also attracted sustained attention. COMESA secured commitments from major beverage manufacturers, including wide‑ranging contractual reforms and significant settlements. Namibia, Angola, Mauritius and Malawi each intervened in distribution and pricing practices, signalling a more interventionist posture in vertical cases.

Crucially, consumer protection is now converging with competition enforcement. Nigeria’s FCCPC issued substantial fines against global digital platforms for data privacy and pricing concerns and introduced new lending regulations to curb exploitative practices. Mozambique sanctioned its national airline for consumer harm and obstructing investigations.

In many jurisdictions, contract design, data handling, and consumer redress are no longer separate legal concerns, but rather they form part of a single, integrated enforcement lens.

Market inquiries become a central policy tool

From media to agriculture, regulators leaned heavily on market inquiries to diagnose structural challenges and design forward‑looking remedies.

South Africa’s Media and Digital Platforms inquiry led major global platforms to commit to measures supporting the sustainability of local news media, including funding, visibility enhancements and AI‑related protections. X Corp faced imposed remedies.

Fresh produce, poultry, fertiliser, animal feed, sugar, cement, automotive distribution, transport, and pay‑TV markets all came under review across Africa. These inquiries are not merely diagnostic, but rather they provide templates for future enforcement, advocacy, and regulation.

Exemptions for public good: A more nuanced approach

Far from being rigid, African regulators demonstrated a sophisticated willingness to permit collaboration where it enhances efficiency without undermining competition. South Africa introduced block exemptions for ports, rail and healthcare tariffs, as well as continuing the Sugar Master Plan under strict safeguards. These exemptions reflect a maturing policy landscape that recognises coordinated solutions may be necessary to overcome infrastructure bottlenecks and systemic constraints, provided rivalry is protected.

A confident, complex and public-minded enforcement era

Africa’s competition law landscape is clearly entering a new phase, marked by greater assertiveness, deeper regional coordination and a more holistic understanding of market dynamics. While regional “one‑stop‑shop” systems continue to develop, lingering jurisdictional overlaps remind us that integration remains a work in progress. Enforcement, however, has unmistakably strengthened: penalties are rising, public‑interest commitments are now integral to merger outcomes, and behavioural cases increasingly merge competition, consumer protection and data governance into a single enforcement agenda.

For investors, multinationals and African businesses, success now requires more than routine compliance. It demands an empirical, evidence‑driven Africa strategy that anticipates regulatory expectations and aligns commercial objectives with evolving policy realities. In a landscape where competition law is increasingly intertwined with economic transformation, companies that proactively embed compliance into their strategic planning will be best placed to capture growth, build resilience, and operate with confidence across the continent.

Download the latest Bowmans Africa Competition Guide here. 

Nazeera Mia is a Knowledge and Learning Lawyer at Bowmans and a member of the Competition practice in the Cape Town office. She has experience in all aspects of competition law in South Africa and is particularly knowledgeable and experienced in competition law across the rest of Africa.