COSATU Call Center Number 010 002 2590

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has recently launched a new call center to provide much-needed assistance to workers facing labour-related challenges. This dedicated resource aims to offer support, information, and guidance to both members of COSATU-affiliated unions and unorganized workers, ensuring that they have a place to turn for help with workplace issues.

COSATU welcomes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing into law the long-awaited Public Procurement Bill

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing into law the long-awaited Public Procurement Bill.  This critical Act lays the foundation for a single public procurement system across the entire state, e.g. 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.
  • Requiring public procurement processes take into account and support local content and BBBEE.  This is key to supporting and creating local jobs and transforming our still racially skewed economy.
  • Establishing a single online site where all tender information will be available to the public.  This will shine a massive spotlight on the murky world of tenders and help expose and discourage corruption.
  • Enabling the centralised procurement of certain key items to help the state save badly needed revenue.
  • Empowering the Chief Procurement Office in Treasury to intervene and halt public procurement that falls foul of the law.  This will be a powerful tool to tackle often openly corrupt tenders.

We welcome the National Council of Provinces’ amendments to the Act strengthening its anti-corruption provisions as well as:

  • Requiring the public disclosure and recording of any relatives of politically influential persons who receive tenders as a way of preventing the abuse of public procurement by persons in senior office. 
  • Elevating local content into a requirement for public procurement.  This is key to protecting and growing local industries and badly needed jobs.

We remain concerned that the Act is not sufficiently binding upon local government where many municipalities struggle with procurement corruption.  We, however, welcome the agreement with the 6th Parliament that this is a foundation Act, and government must revert back to Nedlac and Parliament within 24 months with regulations and a supplementary Bill to further strengthen and enhance its provisions.

We look forward to Treasury drafting Regulations to guide the Act’s implementation and its being rolled out across the state.  The Act will play a key role in tackling corruption and supporting local procurement and jobs.  This is a massive step forward by the African National Congress-led government to cleanse and renew the state, support local jobs and businesses, and spur the economy.

Issued by COSATU

For further information please contact:

Matthew ParksParliamentary CoordinatorCell: 082 785 0687Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za