Pretoria waka-waka: In pursuit of a TWAIL approach to Africa’s competition law
Blog by ‘Damola Adediji
On March 2nd, 2024, after four days attending the Transforming Africa conference at the University of Johannesburg, I moved from Johannesburg to the University of Pretoria, where I served as a guest researcher from March 4th to March 8th, 2024. At this point, I must appreciate my doctoral supervisors (Professors De Beer and Oguamanam) for selling this initiative of a slightly extended research stay in South Africa to me, and I am glad I ran with it. I am also very thankful to Dr Chijioke Okorie, Leader of Data Science Law Lab, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, for inviting me as a guest researcher. At the Data Science Law Lab of the University of Pretoria, I worked under Dr Okorie, who also happens to be one of my mentors. 
On the first day of my research stay, Dr Okorie quickly introduced me to her colleagues at the Center-Lab and its ongoing research projects. The most fascinating of all these projects I eventually worked on was a commissioned research undertaking for the Competition Commission of South Africa entitled “A pro-competition regime for digital markets in South Africa: Pathways for regulatory collaboration and coordination.” The research explores approaches for efficient and effective regulatory collaboration and coordination, as well as overarching competition promotion and enforcement relating to the activities and power of digital platforms in South Africa’s context. Luckily, during my time in Pretoria, the South African Competition Commission organized a public hearing as part of its ongoing public inquiry into the South African media and digital markets. With Dr Okorie’s facilitation, I attended one of the sessions on the third day of my visit. I also accompanied Dr Okorie to a site inspection at Janet Art Centre (venue for the AI policy dialogue organised by the Data Science Law Lab).
Site inspections can be fun…
On the last day of my visit, I had the privilege of giving a guest lecture to the LL.M. students at the Center for IP Law, University of Pretoria. Drawing from my ongoing doctoral project, I deployed a Third World Approach to International Law (TWAIL) to reflect on the concept of abuse of dominance in Africa’s competition law, focusing on the recent anti-competitive conduct of British American Tobacco in Nigeria. It was an honour to share my insights with such a distinguished group of students.
I spent my last three days in Pretoria partying, listening to a Xhosa live musical band, drinking good wine, and, of course, a sleepover at Sun City. The flight to South Africa was the longest of my life, but the trip was worthwhile on all fronts. I look forward to my next trip to South Africa.
