State procurement is on the order of R800bn–R1.3trn a year. On 17 September the Constitutional Court invalidated the Public Procurement Act in full for failed public participation — so the reform that was meant to replace a fragmented regime is back at the starting line.
State procurement is on the order of R800 billion to R1.3 trillion a year — roughly a fifth of GDP once SOEs are included — and it is the main lever for localisation, SMME set-asides, and value-for-money. On 17 September the Constitutional Court invalidated the Public Procurement Act 28 of 2024 in its entirety because Parliament failed to facilitate meaningful public participation. The Act had not yet commenced, so the old fragmented regime stays in force and the rewrite starts again.
Daryl Swanepoel in Daily Maverick (21 September) walks the process failure: stakeholders flagged inadequate time before the Standing Committee on Finance; Cosatu said only about 20% of submissions had reportedly been considered; AmaBhungane and Corruption Watch asked for more time; on 1 December 2023 the committee was asked to adopt a final Bill reportedly tabled only two hours earlier. The irony he names is sharp and useful: in the haste to deliver transformation, Parliament delayed it. News24 has the cold judgment fact — unanimous invalidation, not suspended, existing procurement law remains.
That is the live debate under Localisation and Designation Policy for Public Procurement: designations only bite if the statute that consolidates preferential procurement and local content actually stands. The adjacent fight on Government SMME Procurement: Enforcing the 30% Set-Aside runs through the same plumbing. The failure is specific. The Court did not reject the policy goals; it rejected a rushed process that ignored clear constitutional warnings. Until Parliament redoes the Bill with real participation and a public record of how members voted, hundreds of billions in annual spend stay under the old rules. For the political-economy frame on how institutions and process shape reform, see the textbook’s Chapter 1.