14 April 2010 | Helen Gilbert

Procurement policy in the province of Gauteng, South Africa, must be overhauled to ensure transparency, prevent corruption and speed up service delivery, according to influential groups in the region.

An alliance of organisations is calling on the region’s government to cut the amount of work it awards to private contractors and instead build its own capacity to deliver services.

Partners in the alliance include the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the South African Communist party and the South African National Civic Organisation. Reports suggest the group will table the motion at the ANC’s national general council meeting in Durban in September.

It will also call for the tender process to be made public from the point a contract is advertised to when it is awarded, and will demand an end to bureaucracy to aid quicker service delivery.

South Africa’s purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing retreated for the first time in eight months in March, as new sales orders slowed after inventories were replenished.

The seasonally adjusted index slowed to 55.6 from a three-year high of 60.4 in February. The PMI has been above 50 (a figure representing expansion) for five months in a row.