18 June 2010 | Neil Oelofse

Procurement professionals from across southern Africa must ensure the lessons of the Fifa World Cup in South Africa are shared across the region, according to an industry leader.

Reuben Badana, president of the Association for Operations Management of Southern Africa (Sapics), told SM the tournament had engendered a sense of “togetherness” among procurement officers.

Speaking ahead of the next month’s Sapics conference, dubbed “The beat goes on”, Badana said: “As procurement professionals we don’t work in isolation and every one of us in the supply chain had to work together to ensure good service delivery [for the World Cup]. We want to continue with that momentum.”

World Cup procurement challenges had included the delivery of transport infrastructure, accommodation, feeding the influx of visitors and the provision of equipment and goods for entertainment, safety and health services, he said.

Badana said while the challenges of delivering massive quantities of goods pre-World Cup had been met, the procurement profession now had to ensure that it continued to “develop the skills to sustain this type of action in a manner that will benefit the whole of southern Africa”.

“The beat goes on” conference is expected to draw more than 1,000 delegates from across the southern African region and will take place at Sun City, 25-27 July. Badana said “the beat” was the likening of the World Cup run-up to a frenetic African rhythm that had to now become “steady and strong”.

However, not everyone would agree the World Cup provides an example of good procurement. Player and Referee: Conflicting Interests and the 2010 FIFA World Cup published in May by the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies, questioned the transparency in purchasing procedures for the event. It singled out stadium building, bidding practices and lack of government oversight as areas of concern.