PRESS STATEMENT

A press statement issued by the Procurement Reform Working Group (PRWG) and various civil society organisations expressing alarm over new electricity disaster management regulations in South Africa, arguing that vague emergency procurement provisions risk enabling corruption and looting.

• Civil society organisations argue that the new electricity disaster management regulations are too broad and vague, potentially serving as a "licence to plunder" by allowing state institutions to use emergency procurement for an expansive range of situations, including increasing generation capacity and minimising load shedding impacts.
• The PRWG identifies a risk of executive overreach in Section 5 (1) of the regulations, which allows Cabinet ministers to issue directions within their mandates, a power the group claims expands executive authority and threatens constitutional checks and balances.
• The statement demands a shift from vague monthly publications to proactive, machine-readable disclosure on a central online portal. Required data points include written justifications for emergency procurement, identities of beneficial owners, technical specifications, prices, contracts, and delivery invoices.
• To prevent abuse, the authors propose enforcement measures including banning suppliers owned or managed by public office bearers, party leaders, and ministry officials, as well as providing enhanced protections and rewards for whistleblowers reporting invoicing fraud and under-delivery.
• The PRWG asserts that a state of disaster is unnecessary for the electricity crisis, claiming the government allowed the problem to fester and failed to optimise the existing procurement legislative framework.

APA

Public Affairs Research Institute (2023). PRESS STATEMENT. https://pari.org.za/press-statement-civil-society-demands-clarity-and-transparency-in-emergency-procurement/

Chicago

Public Affairs Research Institute. PRESS STATEMENT. 2023. https://pari.org.za/press-statement-civil-society-demands-clarity-and-transparency-in-emergency-procurement/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Public Affairs Research Institute |title=PRESS STATEMENT |date=22 March 2023 |url=https://pari.org.za/press-statement-civil-society-demands-clarity-and-transparency-in-emergency-procurement/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{publicaffairsresearchinstitute2023press, author = {{Public Affairs Research Institute}}, title = {{PRESS STATEMENT}}, publisher = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {https://pari.org.za/press-statement-civil-society-demands-clarity-and-transparency-in-emergency-procurement/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }