After President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Public Procurement Bill into law on Cape Town's Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to reconsider the implementation of the new Public Procurement Bill.

The new law imposes a powerful centralisation of a vital aspect of government, namely which companies it is allowed to do business with, by placing this control squarely in the hands of the ANC in every constituency, whether they voted for the National government or not.

But the DA has only objected to losing their personal control, not to the mandatory racial discrimination in procurement policy, which continues to be implemented despite a Constitutional Court case in 2022 declaring it unenforceable.

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Grand centralisation

The Bill includes provisions that prevent municipalities from maintaining their own supplier databases and mandate integration with a national database for payments. The centralisation of national procurement via the PPO poses a risk of nationwide disruptions if the central system fails.

Moreover, municipalities would lose the authority to deviate from procurement regulations for urgent services without centralised approval, potentially stalling critical operations. The Bill also restricts the ability to finalize contracts during tender reviews, potentially delaying projects.

The Bill will also deter infrastructure investment and contradict the national government's pledge to reduce bureaucratic hurdles. He points out that public-private partnerships, often key to rapid infrastructure development, will become impractically complex under the new legislation.

Additionally, the Bill lacks provisions for municipalities to leverage procurement for local socio-economic development, as mandated by the Constitution. The CoCT is also wary of the Bill’s requirement for 36 new regulations, which could impose hidden costs and additional bureaucratic burdens on local governments.

Despite having signed the Bill, Ramaphosa retains the option to refer it to the Constitutional Court for a review or return it to Parliament for amendments. In his correspondence with the President, Hill-Lewis has cautioned that the City of Cape Town (CoCT) will challenge the Bill's constitutionality if it proceeds unchanged.

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DA and City objections

The City argues that the legislation, in its current form, threatens to impede local service delivery and compromise the constitutional autonomy of municipal governments.

"The Bill permits provincial treasuries and a new national Public Procurement Office (PPO) to intervene directly in municipal procurement processes," Hill-Lewis contends, "This centralisation lacks the necessary cooperative governance and consultation, infringing upon the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of local governments and their accountability to residents."

The introduction of the national Finance Minister as a regulatory authority for local government, Hill-Lewis notes, contradicts the Constitution, the Municipal Systems Act, and the Municipal Finance Management Act. He advocates for the PPO to serve in an advisory capacity only, given that oversight of public procurement is already conducted by the Auditor General and Public Protector.

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DA accept race laws

During the introduction of the Bill in National Assembly in December of 2023, the DA strenuously objected to the racial content of the Bill. But once in the current governing coalition, the DA changed its tune in the parliamentary select committees.

During the discussion of the Bill in the Select Committee on Finance, DA representatives hesitated to object to the racial discrimination content of the bill, and wished not to to be recorded as saying so in the committee report. The DA's representatives even apologised for being too harsh in their criticisms when they suggested the ANC might abuse their powers over the Western Cape.

Only the VF+ insisted that racial discrimination was morally objectionable. Mr du Toit of the VF+ (pictured front) strongly asserted their desire to be recorded as having objected to the racially discriminatory legislature in the report, but the DA wished to distinguish themselves by stating that it was acceptable, and that in fact, would be cost-effective.

The DA have insisted on enforcing the ANC's race-based preferential procurement across every municipality they run, despite the Constitutional Court ruling in 2022 which declared it legally unenforceable, since the mandate to provide value for money was guaranteed constitutionally, while racial restitution was not.

All parties in the GNU are signatory to the Statement of Intent which commits them to enforcing the ANC's racial transformation agenda, but the VF+ are the only party in Parliament opposed to legal racial discrimination enough to buck the agreement in councils.

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