Free SA has formally raised strong objections to the Draft General Public Procurement Regulations, 2026, warning that the proposed rules risk undermining transparency, competition, and service delivery in South Africa’s public procurement system.
The organisation argues that the regulations introduce race-based set-asides, strict ownership requirements, and pre-qualification criteria that could exclude capable suppliers before their price, quality, and performance are even considered.
“Public procurement must serve the people first,” said Gideon Joubert, spokesperson for Free SA. “Every rand spent by government should deliver real value—better schools, functioning hospitals, and reliable infrastructure. These regulations risk replacing value for money with a quota-driven system that prioritises compliance over competence.”
Free SA emphasises that South Africa’s Constitution already provides a clear framework for procurement: it must be fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, and cost-effective. While redress is permitted, the organisation stresses that it should not override accountability, efficiency, or equal citizenship.
Free SA has identified several critical risks within the draft regulations:
- Reduced competition through mandatory set-asides: Limiting bids to specific categories may shrink the supplier pool, leading to higher costs and reduced quality.
- Exclusion of capable suppliers: Race-based ownership requirements could disqualify businesses regardless of their ability to deliver value.
- Legally questionable pre-qualification rules: Similar mechanisms have previously faced legal challenges and adverse court findings.
- Increased corruption risk: South Africa’s procurement system is already vulnerable to abuse, and additional complexity may create further opportunities for manipulation and patronage.
- Quota-driven targets: Broad demographic targets risk shifting focus away from service delivery outcomes toward compliance metrics.
“South Africa has already seen how procurement systems can be exploited through fronting, tender manipulation, and politically connected networks,” Joubert added. “The solution is not more layers of preference and exclusion, it is more transparency, more competition, and stronger accountability.”
Free SA is calling on National Treasury to withdraw or substantially amend the draft regulations and instead prioritise:
- Value for money
- Open and fair competition
- Non-racialism and equal citizenship
- Strong anti-corruption safeguards
- Performance-based empowerment
The organisation maintains that procurement reform should focus on outcomes, delivering quality services efficiently, rather than enforcing rigid demographic quotas.
Free SA is encouraging South Africans to participate in the public comment process, stressing that civic engagement is essential to shaping policies that affect national development and service delivery.
“Government must buy what works, from those who can deliver, at the best value for the public,” Joubert concluded. “South Africans deserve procurement rules that serve communities, not systems that entrench inefficiency and exclusion.”