The Treasury has moved to increase public scrutiny of government contracts with suppliers, launching an online database that it anticipates will help counter corruption.
The Procurement Payments Dashboard, published on the Treasury’s eTender website, contains details of supplier contracts with all provincial and national departments, except those for defence, the SA Police Service and SA Revenue Service. A user can scrutinise state spending on items ranging from medical equipment to fresh fruit, and hunt for anomalies in the size or frequency of contracts awarded to suppliers.
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“This represents a massive step forward in procurement transparency,” finance minister Enoch Godongwana said in his speech to parliament on Wednesday as he tabled the medium-term budget policy statement.
“It … enables analysis of procurement expenditure and the suppliers that do business with the state, giving citizens, academics and civil society the ability to hold departments accountable, supporting efforts to fight corruption and fraud,” he said.
Earlier in the day he told reporters the system could help stamp out the kind of corruption exposed at Tembisa Hospital in Gauteng. The Special Investigating Unit’s probe into the scandal showed that inflated contracts had been awarded to syndicates that colluded with Gauteng provincial government officials to win numerous inflated contracts, which evaded public scrutiny because they were below the threshold requiring open tenders.
“What this system will do is flag that,” said Godongwana.
The dashboard draws procurement information from various government payment systems, supplemented by contract data reported on the eTender portal and supplier information from the Central Supplier Database.
Treasury director-general Duncan Pieterse said the dashboard contained details of contracts dating back to 2017/18 and would be updated every quarter.
“We will all be able to see over time who is being paid what,” he said.
The system will be expanded at a later stage to include contracts awarded by state-owned entities and municipalities, said Ayanda Hlatswayo, acting chief data analytics officer in the office of the director-general.
More on the medium-term budget:
SA’s 3% inflation target sets sights on price stability and investor confidence
Treasury and Reserve Bank set new 3% inflation target
MTBPS reallocates modest fiscal room — who gains and who loses
Treasury lowers growth forecast with eye on protectionism
Finance minister voices concern about health’s plan to scrap medical tax credits
MTBPS shows marginal fiscal gains while debt costs weigh on outlook
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