South African figure urges procurement whistleblowers

South African Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has urged people to blow the whistle on corruption and report any procurement irregularities to the relevant authorities in a speech to the South African National Assembly.

Public procurement played a significant part in the South African economy and was central to government service delivery, he told the National Assembly in tabling the 2011-12 budget.

“Citizens and taxpayers do not get full value for money, because this is an area vulnerable to waste and corruption. This compromises the integrity of governance and frustrates the pace of service delivery,” Gordhan said.

Alongside the work of the competition authorities in addressing supplier collusion and tender-rigging, a strong procurement framework was critical to boosting jobs and service delivery.

The first round of measures announced in October would come into effect this year.

South African government departments would be required to establish rigorous demand management procedures, including submission of advance tender programmes for the next financial year to the relevant Treasury authority.

Limits would be prescribed for variation orders, to restrict significant changes to procurement orders and bring the system in line with international standards.

Companies bidding for tenders would be required to disclose the identity of all directors, to determine whether any of the directors were government officials or tax non-compliant, he said.

There were currently 53 investigations involving procurement irregularities, involving contracts worth R3-billion (AUD$420 million).

Senior managers of institutions and municipalities were expected to work actively to improve their procurement processes and oversight, Gordhan said.

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