ActionSA MP Alan Beesley has introduced a ‘Blacklist Corrupt Suppliers Bill’ aimed at barring suppliers implicated in corruption and serious procurement misconduct from continuing to do business with the state.
Beesley on Wednesday said the proposed Bill, which is a Private Member’s Bill, seeks to close gaps in South Africa’s public procurement system, arguing that hundreds of suppliers implicated in corruption remain eligible for government contracts despite recommendations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) that they be blacklisted.
According to Beesley, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) was informed last year that, of the 467 suppliers and individuals recommended by the SIU for debarment, only one had been added to National Treasury’s Database of Restricted Suppliers.
He said subsequent parliamentary replies obtained by ActionSA showed that the overwhelming majority of suppliers recommended by the SIU, including those implicated in State Capture, the Digital Vibes scandal and COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement, remain eligible to do business with the state.
“South Africa does not have an investigation problem; it has an implementation problem,” Beesley said.
He said the proposed legislation would strengthen the existing debarment framework established under the Public Procurement Act, 2024, by introducing practical reforms aimed at ensuring findings of corruption and serious procurement misconduct lead to meaningful procurement consequences.
Among the Bill’s key proposals are mandatory timeframes for initiating and completing debarment proceedings to prevent recommendations from remaining unresolved for months or years.
The legislation also seeks to empower National Treasury’s Public Procurement Office to intervene where procuring institutions fail or unreasonably delay debarment proceedings, ensuring accountability does not depend solely on the willingness of individual accounting officers to act.
In addition, the Bill proposes strengthening transparency by requiring the prompt updating of the public debarment register and obliging procuring institutions to report annually on supplier misconduct, debarment decisions and instances where they elected not to initiate debarment proceedings.
Beesley said it would further integrate SIU debarment recommendations and Special Tribunal orders directly into South Africa’s procurement framework to ensure they are translated into timely procurement consequences.
He said the legislation was designed to protect honest businesses and taxpayers by preventing suppliers implicated in serious procurement misconduct from continuing to compete for public contracts because of administrative inertia.
Beesley said ActionSA had pursued the issue over the past year through sustained parliamentary oversight, including lodging a complaint with the Public Protector over government’s failure to implement supplier debarment recommendations.
He said parliamentary replies obtained by the party revealed that none of the 207 suppliers implicated in the R2 billion Tembisa Hospital corruption scandal had been added to National Treasury’s debarment register despite SIU recommendations.
ActionSA also laid criminal charges against the eThekwini municipal manager over the implementation of the SIU’s findings into the Phoenix Infill Housing Programme.
Beesley said these interventions all pointed to the same conclusion.
The Bill comes as the Public Procurement Act, 2024, is being implemented and its accompanying regulations remain open for public comment.
While welcoming the new procurement framework, Beesley argued it would fall short of its objectives unless supplier debarment was supported by enforceable obligations, meaningful oversight and transparent consequence management.
“A procurement system that allows suppliers implicated in corruption to continue doing business with the state undermines public confidence, wastes taxpayers’ money and disadvantages honest businesses that compete fairly for public contracts,” he said.
Beesley said the proposed legislation seeks to ensure that once the state identifies suppliers that should no longer do business with government, there is a legal obligation to act.
He invited members of the public, procurement professionals, business organisations and civil society to engage with and comment on the proposed legislation.
