Tackling South Africa's Tendrepreneurs

Has the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer managed to clamp down on corruption relating to government tenders?

Public sector corruption related to government tenders is so prolific that South Africans have developed a word for those involved – Tendrepreneurs. These are people who get rich from securing government tenders using their connections with politicians or government officials. To clamp down on this practice, the Minister of Finance set up the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) in 2013 to modernise procurement, curb leakage in public expenditure and get maximum value from the R500 billion spent on goods and services annually.

This seminar, co-hosted by Goedgedacht Forum for social reflection, will consider progress made by the OCPO and how citizens can support this office to increase accountability in government tender processes.

Chair: Judith February, Consultant, Governance, Crime and Justice division, ISS

Speakers:

  • Kenneth Brown, Chief Procurement Officer, National Treasury
  • Carlene van der Westhuizen, Research Fellow, International Budget Partnership
  • Karabo Rajuili, Amabhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism
Development partners
This event is made possible with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The ISS is also grateful for support from the following members of the ISS Partnership Forum: the governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the USA.
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