MORE THAN 500 COMPANIES FACE POSSIBLE BLACKLISTING IN SOUTH AFRICA
- BEE NEWS
- 10 hours ago
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Mthobisi Nozulela | 8 December 2025
Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has revealed that hundreds of companies that were flagged for blacklisting by the government are still under review, with only 18 formally restricted so far.
This comes as the government looks to crack down on corruption, fraud, and non-performance in public procurement. Last month, the Minister of Public Works & Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, also said that 40 contractors had been blacklisted since June 2024, compared with just one over the previous 22 years.
Godongwana said that the National Treasury cannot blacklist suppliers on its own and can only act once the affected government departments submit complete and legally compliant requests.
"On 20 September 2025, a list of 509 referrals was received by the National Treasury from the Presidency. Of the referrals, 18 have been blacklisted, and 491 are still under review," Godongwana said.
Godongwana also explained that delays in blacklisting are largely procedural, with some departments submitting incomplete information or failing to comply with legal requirements.
"These companies were either restricted or referred back (as per the attached list on question 1 above) due to non-compliance with legislative requirements such as the Instruction Notes, General Conditions of Contract, and Preferential Procurement Regulations. However, several organs of state have yet to submit their request for restrictions to National Treasury".
He added that the Treasury’s role is limited to administering the system rather than initiating action.
"It should be noted that National Treasury does not initiate the restriction but facilitates the process of loading the restriction on the database of restricted suppliers".
"The process is initiated by the organs of state, and in the absence of requests from the organs of state, National Treasury cannot restrict the affected suppliers, though SIU has issued a report, organs of state must still follow the restriction process".
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