Open tender system to root out corruption

Pretoria - The open tender system would go a long way in rooting out corruption related to the awarding of tenders in Gauteng.

This was the message at the first open tender system seminar hosted in Midrand yesterday by the Gauteng provincial government in partnership with the provincial Treasury, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young.

At least 800 participants, including business people and public servants, attended the seminar to learn about how the system would curb corrupt activities.

The system will ensure transparency and accountability and also save public officials from capture by private or corporate interests.

The keynote speaker, Gauteng Premier David Makhura, said the system was intended to instil public confidence in the government procurement processes.

Makhura said: “We can no longer treat the issues of corruption only as a perception. We must deal with it as a reality that threatens to erode public confidence in all state institutions.”

The open tender system was introduced in 2014 to promote accountability, transparency, integrity and public scrutiny regarding all decisions made on tenders.

Since the piloting of the open tender process, 72 contracts valued at R10.4 billion had been awarded, Makhura said.

“For the current financial year, our target is that 60% of the total procurement spend should go through the open tender system. This target will increase to 80% in the 2017/18 financial year and to 100% in 2018/19,” Makhura said.

For the past two years, provincial departments, agencies and municipalities in Gauteng spent R47bn on goods and services, he said. Of this amount, at least R 6.7bn went to township enterprises.

“In the 2015/16 financial year, we spent a total of R25bn, with R19bn (77%) going to black companies. Of these, 20% accounted for women-owned companies and 9.3% for youth,” he said.

Tender bidding and adjudication processes were open to members of the public. Makhura said in future, the processes would be held in the townships to encourage previously disadvantaged communities to participate.

The premier said the partnership with government must be to utilise public procurement policy to empower those marginalised from the mainstream economy.

The seminar focused on the capabilities of the system, specifically on how it could enhance transparency and integrity in the procurement of goods and services. Participants heard that Gauteng was the only province that practised the open tender system.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

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