Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Jan de Villiers MP.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) supports the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town in their Constitutional Court challenge to the Public Procurement Act, which will take place today and tomorrow.
Public procurement must deliver real value for money, not create more costly and cumbersome processes that weaken service delivery.
The DA will not accept a centralised national procurement office that second-guesses provincial and local procurement decisions. This undermines the principle of subsidiarity and weakens the ability of capable local governments to deliver services efficiently and accountably.
The Court will hear arguments that Parliament failed to ensure adequate public participation during the legislative process, as required by section 59(1)(a) of the Constitution. This follows concerns that material amendments were introduced without proper consultation.
We believe that any law governing public procurement must be constitutionally sound, transparent, and workable. Legislation that fails to meet these standards risks increasing red tape and undermining service delivery.
The Constitutional Court will now consider the matter and determine an outcome.