Limitations of Decentralised Procurement in The South African Public Service

• Pages: 88-101
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Pandelani Harry Munzhedzi
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

Special Issue

December, 2021

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

103

Limitations of Decentralised Procurement in The South African Public

Service

Pandelani Harry Munzhedzi

University of Venda

Abstract

The pre-democratic South Africa was characterised by the centralisation of the procurement

system through the State Tender Board Act 86 of 1968. The legislation had its challenges,

including the exclusion of majority in the government procurement system. To this end,

the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 (As amended) was introduced in the f‌irst phase

of the democratic era, post 1994; seeking to decentralise the public procurement system in

the South Africa public service, amongst many other objectives. However, many limitations

associated with this introduction exists. This is not to conclude that there are no benef‌its of

decentralisation, as far as public procurement is concerned. This qualitative conceptual paper

points out the limitations and further propose recommendations to address the identif‌ied

limitations. This was done by reviewing existing literature on the South African public

procurement system. Some of the pinpointed limitations in the government institutions

include the following aspects: Minimal capacity, lack of consequences to those who contravene

policies and severe corruption. For recommendations, accountability mechanisms to detect

corruption and maladministration should be implemented, enhancing capacity through

training and awareness as well as introduction of consequence management.

Key words: capacity, corruption, decentralisation, limitations, public procurement.

Introduction

Public procurement is a necessary function which seeks to acquire goods and services

that government is unable to produce or render (Van der Waldt, 2016). Many of the

public services are rendered to the public through public procurement, including but

not limited to building and maintenance of schools, hospitals, clinics and low cost

housing. However, the South African national government lack requisite technical

skills and capacity to render some of the services the Constitution of the Republic of

South Africa of 1996 (hereafter referred to as 1996 Constitution) enshrined on it. It is

even worse when some of these procurement functions are decentralised to lower

structures in the public services such as hospitals and clinics. Amongst other many

objectives of Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999, it was meant to decentralise

public procurement as opposed to State Tender Board Act 86 of 1968 which centralised it.

This decentralisation came with multiple limitations which made public procurement

not to be able to achieve its intended objectives, namely, transform government

procurement, empowerment of those who were previously disadvantaged, redressing

imbalances of the past, and introducing systematic approach to procurement.

This paper is conceptual in nature and it reviews existing literature with the purpose