Budget Speech 2024

Honourable Members, the Public Procurement Bill was expeditiously passed by the National Assembly. The amended Bill has now been referred to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.

National Treasury is supporting provincial legislatures as they process the Bill and conduct nationwide public hearings.

The Bill provides for transformation measures through set asides, pre-qualification and advancement of persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination.

These measures would be applicable to specified categories of persons including small enterprises owned by black people, black women, black youth, black people with disabilities, and enterprises within a particular geographical area including enforcement of transformation through the BBBEE level status.

The Bill also makes provision for local industrialisation through designations and measures for sustainable development, labour absorption and enterprise development, amongst others.

We are well aware that currently, procurement processes often fall short of delivering the most cost-effective solutions to government's needs.

Too often, there is a substantial disparity between the prices government is being charged and the prevailing market prices.

For instance, the government buys ICT hardware such as laptops, uninterrupted power supply devices, monitors, and toners, at between 1.2 and 2 times more than market price.

Given that government buys in large quantities, we should in fact be paying less and leveraging our buying power to get more value for our money.

Obtaining value for money, as well as the principles of efficiency, transparency, and competition, remain paramount. And we want to assure South Africans that these principles are not incompatible with transformation.