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ActionSA is preparing to lodge a formal complaint with the Public Protector against the National Treasury after a Presidency briefing to Parliament revealed a shocking failure of consequence management in the fight against corruption. Of 467 individuals and companies recommended by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to be added to National Treasury’s Restricted Suppliers Register, only one has been listed.

This is not a bureaucratic paperwork problem but a systemic breakdown. The Presidency’s own tracking shows 1,278 disciplinary recommendations emanating from SIU investigations, yet only 44 dismissals have resulted. That means the system routinely allows implicated suppliers and officials to escape accountability and continue doing business with the State.

ActionSA holds the following institutions directly responsible for this spectacular failure of consequence management: 

Accounting Officers (Heads of Departments, municipal managers and CEOs of state entities) bear the primary legal duty to implement SIU recommendations and to enforce procurement rules, including ensuring those recommended for restriction are acted upon. Failure to do so is a failure of statutory and fiduciary duty under the PFMA and/or MFMA.

National Treasury holds oversight responsibility for procurement integrity and the Restricted Suppliers Register and must explain why SIU referrals have not translated into listings or systemic corrective measures. The procurement reforms discussed in government explicitly considered empowering Treasury to act where Accounting Officers fail to act, but that power was not retained in the final Act, creating an enforcement gap that Treasury must now address.

The Presidency is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the SIU recommendations, tracking outcomes and ensuring consequence management across the state. The Presidency’s tracking system has captured the referrals, but the lack of follow-through is ultimately a failure of political will, leadership and coordination.

ActionSA will therefore submit a complaint to the Public Protector alleging systemic maladministration and failure to implement SIU consequence-management recommendations. We will also continue to pursue parliamentary remedies to compel Ministers, Accounting Officers and the Presidency to account publicly and to take immediate corrective action.

While President Cyril Ramaphosa has recently admonished ANC councillors for dereliction of duty, it is his Presidency and his Executive that are responsible for this spectacular failure. If the Executive will not act, independent institutions must. ActionSA will not allow SIU recommendations – which exist precisely to protect the public purse – to be shelved while dishonest suppliers continue winning contracts.

Issued by ActionSA Member of Parliament Alan Beesley MP