Procurement Professionals Urged to Tap Treasury Leaders’ Insights as Public Finance Crisis Deepens
South Africa’s fiscal challenges are mounting, but with them comes a chance to rethink public spending. At the Smart Procurement World Indaba, top Treasury leaders will take the stage to explore how procurement can drive accountability, unlock value, and support long-term development.
For South Africa’s public sector, procurement is no longer just about compliance — it has become a strategic tool in the face of a tightening fiscal environment. With budgets under strain and service delivery demands increasing, procurement professionals need clarity on how government’s evolving financial priorities will directly impact their planning, sourcing, and contract management across departments, municipalities, SOEs, and state hospitals.
This year’s Smart Procurement World Indaba will put these issues under the spotlight through a dedicated public sector panel featuring senior leaders from both National and Provincial Treasuries. They will share the latest fiscal strategies, unpack the pressures facing public finance, and outline what this means for procurement teams on the ground.
According to Smart Procurement CEO Debbie Tagg,
“This session offers rare and direct insights into the transition – driven by the new Public Procurement Act – from legislation to regulation, including how to ensure a coordinated and compliant rollout. It will explore whether our Treasuries are effectively fulfilling their custodian role as well as the practical challenges faced on the ground by public finance teams. Attendees can expect to leave with tools and guidance to strengthen their implementation programmes.
“One of the biggest questions on the agenda, and which this panel of senior leaders will examine, is how we unite and formalise a high-performance treasury team across all spheres of government.
“Public finance matters now more than ever. With debt nearing 78% of South Africa’s GDP, more of the budget goes to paying interest than funding hospitals, infrastructure or service delivery. The budget deficit is set to widen further, while public demand for services grows. Revenue targets are under pressure due to weak growth and policy rollbacks like the cancelled VAT increase. These constraints mean one thing: government must get more from every rand it spends. And that starts with procurement, which accounts for nearly 30% of total government expenditure.
“For too long, procurement has been seen as a compliance box to tick, but today, it must be a strategic lever to drive value for money in a tight fiscal environment; to prevent corruption and leakages in the system; to support local economic development and transformation; and to ensure faster, more efficient delivery of services.
“To do this, procurement professionals must understand how the public finance system works, and how National and Provincial Treasury priorities are shifting. As budgets tighten and scrutiny rises, the skills, insights and decisions of procurement professionals will increasingly determine whether public money achieves its intended purpose.”
The panel will bring together five key voices: Isac Smith (Deputy Director General: Governance and Asset Management, Western Cape Provincial Government), Owen Witbooi (Deputy Director General, Gauteng Provincial Treasury), Walter Molelekwa (Senior Manager Asset Management, Northern Cape Provincial Treasury), Betty Rakubu (Chief Director, Limpopo Provincial Treasury), and Mzuvikile Mququ (Director: Supply Chain Management, Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury). The discussion will be moderated by Ronald Mlalazi, Managing Director of Commerce Edge International.
Smart Procurement is urging all government departments, municipalities, and public entities to attend, for the chance to hear directly from the leaders shaping South Africa’s public finance and procurement landscape.
