The PPE procurement scandal, which saw vital Covid-19 funds channelled to politically connected business people, has brought the vexed issue of South Africa’s tender system into the spotlight once more. What can be done to make government procurement more corruption-proof?
Mkhwebane was voicing an apparently widespread view in South Africa currently, brought to the fore by the news of a PPE procurement scandal which saw emergency Covid-19 funds channelled to politically connected business people.
“The relationship between policy promotion and the attainment of value for money is a bone of contention,” wrote Phoebe Bolton in a paper for theAlthough the Constitution stipulates that the principles of “fairness, equitability, transparency, competitiveness, and cost-effectiveness” be applied to all procurement decisions, the price of a bid remains technically the most important criterion for winning government contracts.
As a way of circumventing this, the use of “pre-qualifying criteria” in tenders has become widespread. “These arrangements, which are sometimes facilitated with the assistance of shrewd lawyers and consultants, are calculated to obfuscate the identities of those who profit from dodgy tenders.” Zungula argued that instead of depending on external companies, the government should focus on building its own capacity and rely on insourcing rather than outsourcing.“provincial and local government, and all state-owned companies, must abolish tenders and insource workers on a full-time basis” in Parliament in September 2019.
“The details of contracts that government awards, the details of winning companies and their directors, should be published in real time for public inspection,” says Hill-Lewis.The presence of independent observers on bid adjudication panels has also been proposed. Two Unisa academicsthat representatives of civil society could be incorporated in the procurement process.
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