CCA, top insurers set for Tribunal clash
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday June 15, 2026 06:00
A hearing has been set for August 28.
The companies involved are BIC Insurance and Old Mutual Insurance. Together with a previous respondent, Hollard Insurance, which has since reached a settlement with the CCA, the three firms account for approximately 70% of the market and are regarded as the dominant players in Botswana's short-term insurance industry.
Recently, Hollard Insurance agreed to pay P8.4 million to settle the matter in finality, while BIC and Old Mutual elected to challenge the allegations before the Tribunal.
According to filings before the Tribunal, the CCA alleges that the two insurers engaged in practices that may contravene the Competition Act by limiting competition within the automotive repair and spare parts markets.
The authority is seeking several remedies, including orders compelling the insurers to immediately cease dictating labour costs charged by auto body repairers in Botswana. The CCA is also requesting that the companies stop imposing fixed mark-ups on the procurement of spare parts and discontinue requiring repairers to source spare parts exclusively through Autoboys.
The competition watchdog believes that BIC, in particular, is an indirect shareholder in Autoboys, a spare parts provider, and has other interests in the company.
In addition, the Authority wants the insurers to reverse any decisions not to deal with repairers who lodged complaints with the regulator and to pay fines for the alleged contraventions of the Competition Act.
The CCA maintains that the practices under investigation may restrict competition, undermine the independence of repair businesses, and ultimately harm consumers through higher repair costs and reduced choice in the market.
According to the authority, investigations revealed that the two insurers may have abused their dominant market position in a manner that lessened competition.
'The insurers have foreclosed the market to other suppliers by instructing that AutoBoys would be their only supplier for auto spare parts to the exclusion of other motor dealers, thereby lessening competition in the auto spare parts market,' the CCA stated in its filings.
The Authority further alleges that investigations uncovered evidence of direct communication between the insurers for the purpose of obtaining a competitive advantage. The findings reportedly include minutes of management meetings, which suggest discussions and arrangements between some of the insurers regarding the enforcement of specific trading terms on participants in the automotive parts industry.
According to the CCA, records from management meetings indicate initiatives involving BIC and Hollard aimed at establishing arrangements to ensure that certain terms of trade were imposed on auto parts businesses operating in Botswana.
“The conduct clearly points to an agreement between the insurers to fix labour and repair costs and impose other trading conditions on the repairers. “This conduct has prevented or is likely to lessen competition in the market. “Where the repairers have refused to accept the trading terms set by the insurers, they have been prevented from providing any service to them,” reads a filing from the CCA.
The Tribunal's decision will determine whether the insurers breached competition laws and what penalties or corrective measures, if any, should be imposed.