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2023 | 85 | 1 | 71-83

Article title

Contemporary trends in the development of public procurement law in South Africa

Authors

Content

Title variants

PL
Współczesne trendy w rozwoju prawa zamówień publicznych w Republice Południowej Afryki

Languages of publication

Abstracts

PL
Niniejszy artykuł podejmuje zagadnienie współczesnych tendencji w rozwoju prawa zamówień publicznych w RPA. Wykorzystując doktrynalną analizę prawną, zidentyfikowano dwa główne trendy rozwoju w tym obszarze po demokratyzacji państwa: strukturalny i merytoryczny. Te dwa trendy stanowią szczególne wyzwania dla systemu zamówień publicznych. Na poziomie strukturalnym w artykule ukazano, że chociaż prawo od samego początku odgrywało kluczową rolę w kształtowaniu systemu zamówień publicznych w RPA, to przed transformacją konstytucyjną w 1994 r. sfera ta nie była przedmiotem szczegółowej regulacji prawnej. Zmiany, które przyniosła nowa konstytucja, wymagały również dostosowania prawa w obszarze zamówień publicznych. Podejmowane w tym zakresie działania doprowadził jednak do powstania fragmentarycznego, nieskoordynowanego i nadmiernie uciążliwego reżimu prawnego. Na poziomie merytorycznym w artykule stwierdzono, że prawo nie zdołało skutecznie stworzyć ram dla wykorzystania zamówień publicznych do celów polityki społecznej, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem dążenia do równości. Na podstawie tych ustaleń w artykule stwierdza się, że reforma prawa jest pilnie potrzebna, aby uniknąć sytuacji, w której prawo osłabia potencjał zamówień publicznych w RPA.
EN
This paper explores emerging contemporary trends in the development of South Africa’s public procurement law. Using a doctrinal legal analysis, it identifies two main trends in such development post-democratization, one structural and one substantive. It argues that these two trends pose particular challenges to the public procurement system. At the structural level, the paper shows that while law has played a key role in the development of South Africa’s public procurement system right from the outset, it constituted a light touch regulatory regime prior to the constitutional transition in 1994. The changes that the new constitutional dispensation brought about necessitated an adjustment in the regulation of public procurement as well. The development of public procurement law to effect such adjustment has, however, created a fragmented, uncoordinated and overly burdensome regulatory regime. At the substantive level, the paper argues that law has not managed to effectively create a framework for the use of public procurement for social policy purposes with specific reference to the pursuit of equality. Based on these findings, the paper argues that legal reform is urgently needed in order to avoid law undermining the public procurement function in South Africa.

Year

Volume

85

Issue

1

Pages

71-83

Physical description

Dates

published
2023

Contributors

author
  • Stellenbosch University

References

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  • Bolton, P. (2013). The regulatory framework for public procurement in South Africa. In G. Quinot, S. Arrowsmith (eds.), Public Procurement Regulation in Africa (pp. 178–199). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Brunette, R., Chipkin, I., Tshimomola, G., Meny-Gibert, S. (2014). The Contract State: Outsourcing and Decentralisation in Contemporary South Africa. Johannesburg: Public Affairs Research Institute.
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  • Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Public Works (1997). Green paper on public sector procurement reform in South Africa: an initiative of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Works. General notice 691 of 1997. Government Gazette 17928 of 14 April 1997. Pretoria: Government Printer.
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Document Type

Publication order reference

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki
28811429

YADDA identifier

bwmeta1.element.ojs-doi-10_14746_rpeis_2023_85_1_07
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