Attempts to stop Public Procurement Act by WCG disappointing – COSATU – POLITICS

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply dismayed by ill-conceived attempts to halt the implementation of the long-awaited Public Procurement Act by the Western Cape Provincial Government.  This critical Act recently signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, lays the foundation for a single public procurement system across the entire state, including departments, municipalities, entities and State-Owned Enterprises. 

There has not been a single public procurement legislative framework and consequently the situation in many state institutions is open to abuse and corruption.  The existing legislative gaps were brought to the fore in 2022 when the Constitutional Court declared that Treasury lacked the legislative powers to set local content and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment public procurement criteria.  The Zondo Commission into State Capture and Corruption heard countless evidence of how our leaky public procurement systems enable widespread corruption and wasteful expenditure.

COSATU engaged extensively with Treasury and Organised Business on the Act at Nedlac and in Parliament and reached consensus on the majority of its provisions, including:

Establishing a single public procurement framework for the entire state.  This will enable common standards to be established across often-fragmented government institutions.