Not a single defaulting supplier has been restricted from doing business with the Eastern Cape provincial government in the 2025/26 financial year. Finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko confirmed this in response to parliamentary questions from the Democratic Alliance.
The DA has now proposed that Provincial Treasury formalise fixed notice periods for defaulting contractors and suppliers, so that restriction proceedings cannot be delayed indefinitely by those who simply refuse to respond.
Provincial Treasury Instruction 5 of 2024/25 requires departments to submit quarterly reports on supplier restrictions so that Treasury can build a single provincial view of compliance and act where persistent non-compliance is identified.
MEC Mvoko revealed that all thirteen provincial departments had submitted their quarterly reports. Eight departments identified instances of poor or underperforming suppliers, including Public Works, Agriculture, Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Transport, Human Settlements, Social Development, Education, and Provincial Treasury. The other five departments submitted nil returns.
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The consolidated reports are submitted and presented to the Sub-Cabinet Budget Committee, the Cabinet Budget Committee, and the Executive Council.
Despite this, no defaulting suppliers have been restricted. The MEC stated that departments are still in the process of restricting some suppliers, but that the process is very slow because suppliers do not respond, or take long to respond, to notices of intention to have them restricted.
This is unacceptable. The province has built the reporting system, departments have identified underperforming suppliers, and the reports have reached the highest executive structures in government. Yet suppliers who fail the province can avoid consequences simply by delaying their responses.
Due process cannot become an open-ended escape route. It requires notice, a reasonable opportunity to respond, and a clear consequence when that opportunity is ignored.
Provincial Treasury must now implement fixed timelines for supplier restriction proceedings. Suppliers facing restriction should be given a formal period to respond, followed by a final notice if they fail to do so. If they still do not engage, the restriction process must proceed on the strength of the department’s report, with the supplier’s failure to respond placed on record.
The Eastern Cape cannot claim to be serious about fiscal discipline while underperforming suppliers continue doing business with the provincial government because no one has set a deadline by which they must answer. Every rand lost to poor performance, delayed contracts, and failed delivery is money taken from communities that need working roads, functioning hospitals, reliable school infrastructure, and basic services.
The DA will continue to press Provincial Treasury for a clear restriction framework with fixed timelines, proper tracking, and public accountability for suppliers who fail the people of the Eastern Cape.