South Africa's private sector can support the public sector to accelerate the procurement of public infrastructure projects, says business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busisiwe Mavuso.

In 2025, of the 2 549 government tenders advertised, only 433, or 17%, were awarded, while 279 were cancelled before closing and 1 837 were closed, but had either not been awarded or had been abandoned after evaluation.

In his February Budget speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana highlighted more than R1-trillion of infrastructure investment that the public sector is committed to over the three-year budget horizon.

However, during the second quarter of this year, South Africa's gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) was only 13.6% of GDP, which was the weakest number in five years.

The business-government partnership has targeted 20% of GDP for GFCF as a medium-term goal, although 30% is viewed as the level needed to support credible economic growth, Mavuso points out.

She states that there is a lag effect. The economy must prove it is working better before businesses commit long-term investment capital. South Africa will not achieve growth without investment, she points out.

Further, the public sector is a major investor and has historically been responsible for about one-third of investment in South Africa. However, with only one in six tenders being awarded, the R1-trillion infrastructure budget will not be spent, Mavuso states.

The constraints stem primarily from a resourcing problem. Government delivery has been hampered by the exodus of skilled staff from the public sector, she says.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa's efforts to professionalise the civil service and turn around its capabilities are the right approach, and progress is slowly becoming evident. However, while that process unfolds, there is little alternative but to draw on the skills of the private sector.”

The constraints facing public procurement are solvable. Business has worked successfully with the public sector on many fronts, including turning around the performance of the electricity sector and the logistics system, Mavuso says.

However, while operating performance has improved, capital expenditure in State-owned enterprises Eskom, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and Transnet is a significant challenge, with many of the cancelled tenders falling under those three entities.

Effective infrastructure procurement processes require extensive expertise. To properly assess tenders, legal skills, economists and engineering skills, such as geotechnical and civil engineering skills, are needed.

The private sector has these skills in relative abundance.

To get tenders to work effectively, the start must be good tenders based on well-assessed opportunities and proven feasibility that make sense for contractors to bid on, Mavuso says.

Then, good technical evaluators are needed to judge bids properly, alongside bid committees confident enough to make awards.

Subsequently, contract management and delivery are needed, which includes good security plans to deal with construction risks.

There are good examples of where private skills have been used effectively to support public procurement. When the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme started in 2010, the Independent Power Producer Office pulled in the best legal and engineering skills from across the world to assemble a specialist team to prepare the requests for proposals and evaluate bids, she points out.

The public sector always determines policy priorities. However, to do the work on feasibility studies, document preparation and evaluating bids, private-sector experts can be contracted appropriately to deliver fast and high-quality programmes, Mavuso says.

“Infrastructure is a critical growth pillar for business organisation Business for South Africa. We are ready to support government to facilitate a step change in the ability of the State to successfully develop and conclude infrastructure projects.

“We have demonstrated our ability to bring high-quality skills to the table to work on difficult public-sector challenges. We can do the same to accelerate successful infrastructure procurement.

“We are aligned with the ambitions of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and Minister Dean Macpherson, and we can work together to achieve them,” Mavuso says.