President Ramaphosa assents to Public Procurement Bill

23 July 2024

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law legislation that aims to create a single framework that regulates public procurement, including preferential procurement, by all organs of state, with the necessary efficiency, cost-effectiveness and integrity.

The President has assented to the Public Procurement Bill which complies with the stipulation in Section 217 of the Constitution that contracting of goods and services by organs of state in all spheres of government must occur in accordance with a system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective; and that national legislation must prescribe a framework within which a procurement policy must be implemented.

As enacted by the President, the Public Procurement Act addresses weaknesses in the procurement of goods and services by organs of state that have in the past enabled various degrees of corruption, including state capture.

The Act also responds to the acknowledgment that legislation regulating procurement by organs of state is fragmented and constrains justified advancement of persons or categories of persons who could provide goods or services.

The Act establishes a single framework that regulates public procurement, including preferential procurement, by all organs of state and promotes the use of technology for efficiency and effectiveness.

The law seeks to enhance transparency and integrity, among others, to combat corruption, ensure efficient, effective and economic use of public resources and advance transformation and broadened economic participation.

The Act foresees that economic development will be stimulated through the procurement of goods that are produced and services that are provided in South Africa, as well as procurement that is developmental in nature.

The Public Procurement Act, which will be administered by the Minister of Finance, applies to departments, constitutional institutions, municipalities, municipal entities, and public entities.

There are also a limited number of clauses which apply to Parliament and provincial legislatures.

The Act applies to all procurement carried out by a procurement institution (including procurement through donor or grant funding), any person who submits a bid or has been awarded a bid; and all procurement carried out by any person on behalf of a procuring institution.

Among its wide-ranging provisions, the Act lists persons who may not submit bids including a public office bearer, employees of Parliament or provincial legislatures, and officials or employees of, among others, public entities, constitutional institutions, municipalities and municipal entities.

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President Ramaphosa assents to Climate Change Bill

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Climate Change Bill which sets out a national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions, which also constitutes South Africa’s fair contribution to the global climate change response. 

The Climate Change Act, as endorsed by the President, enables the alignment of policies that influence South Africa’s climate change response, to ensure that South Africa’s transition to a low carbon and climate resilient economy and society is not constrained by policy contradictions.
 
The law also sets out to enhance South Africa’s ability and capacity over time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build climate resilience, while reducing the risk of job losses, and promoting opportunities for new job opportunities in the emerging green economy.
 
The Act has the aim of strengthening co-ordination between national sector departments and provide policy setting and decision-making to enable South Africa to meet the commitments in Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. 

The National Determined Contribution is a set of commitments South Africa has made under the international Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse greenhouse emissions as part of climate change mitigation. 

South Africa is one of more than 190 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change who are parties to the eight-year-old Paris Agreement. 

South Africa’s mitigation measures are a response to climate change impacts that are increasingly experienced across a number of sectors including water resources; agriculture and food production; forestry and fisheries; human health; energy generation; industry; human settlements and migration; disaster management; biodiversity and terrestrial ecosystems. 

These impacts will disproportionately affect poor communities and vulnerable groups and could affect South Africa’s ability to meet its development and economic growth goals, including job creation and poverty reduction.

The Climate Change Act sets out the functions of the Presidential Climate Commission, which includes providing advice on the Republic’s climate change response to ensure the realisation of the vision for effective climate change response and the long-term just transition to a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy and society.
 
The law also stipulates the role provinces and municipalities will play in mitigation efforts.

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President Ramaphosa assents to National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assented to the National Small Enterprise Amendment Bill which streamlines the support services government provided to small and medium businesses as part of broadening participation in the economy by a greater number of South Africans.

The National Small Enterprise Amendment Act signed by the President amends the National Small Enterprise Act of 1996 to establish a new entity, the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency, which will incorporate the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency (SEFA), the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and the Cooperative Banks Development Agency (SEDFA).

SEDA and SEFA are currently located within the Department of Small Business Development.

The new Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency will function as a one-stop-shop for aspiring entrepreneurs and promote the development of the Co-operative Banking Institutions (CBIs).

The Act also establishes the Office of the Small Enterprise Ombud Service which may, as part of dealing with complaints, recommend that the Minister of Small Business Development declare certain practices in relation to small enterprises to be prohibited unfair trading.

Under the new law, the Minister may make regulations setting the criteria to determine the classification of micro, small and medium enterprises as well as any legislation affecting small enterprises.

Issued by The Presidency, 23 July 2024