This event features a discussion with Willem Boshoff and Rachel Jafta (Stellenbosch University).
Abstract
Africa's digital economy is growing quickly, but the rules that govern competition in its digital markets are developing along quite different - and potentially conflicting - trajectories. In this session, Professor Rachel Jafta and Professor Willem Boshoff (Stellenbosch University) present the state of play of digital competition policy on the continent, followed by a conversation with Professor Nicolas Petit (EUI) on where African and EU approaches align and where they diverge. The presentation contrasts South Africa, which has chosen to rely on existing competition law, market inquiries and negotiated remedies rather than DMA-style regulation, with some of the newer regional and continental frameworks. COMESA's 2025 Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations and the AfCFTA Protocol on Competition Policy both introduce gatekeeper concepts and per se prohibitions that echo the EU's Digital Markets Act. The speakers consider what these overlapping national, regional and continental layers mean for platforms operating across African markets, for home-grown digital firms, and for the authorities that must enforce the rules. They also reflect on the growing weight of non-competition and industrial-policy objectives in African competition policy.
Speakers
Willem Boshoff is Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Centre for Competition Law and Economics at Stellenbosch University. He is an internationally recognised expert in competition policy and has published on various aspects of competition, competition policy and macro-economic issues in leading journals. Currently, Prof Boshoff is a Fellow of Economic Research Southern Africa, responsible for advancing competition policy research and teaching in South Africa.
Professor Rachel Jafta is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University. She is also a director of Amsterdam-listed Prosus and Naspers and serves as Chair of the Media24 Board of Directors. Professor Jafta is the founder and chairperson of several community engagement initiatives, including the Media24 Rachel’s Angels Mentorship Programme, the Cape Town Carnival, and WeCode24. She is also a longstanding member of the International Advisory Council of Fundação Dom Cabral Business School in Brazil.
Professor Nicolas Petit is the Head of the Law Department, Professor of Competition Law at the Department of Law of the European University Institute (EUI). His research in recent years has focused on EU and US competition law, competition and innovation, law and economics, and law in a context of technological change. Nicolas Petit has published his scholarly research in top journals including the Antitrust Law Journal, European Law Review, Review of Industrial Organization, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Common Market Law Review, Columbia Journal of European Law and Berkeley Journal of Law & Technology.
Register