ELLIS MNYANDU, Cape Town | Tuesday 6.45pm
LAWMAKERS on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to ask parliament to pass a law seeking to boost small black businesses through government contracts when it sits on Friday.
The Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Bill is among four crucial pieces of legislation that parliament is expected to pass before a constitutional deadline of February 4 and aims to give small black firms an edge in bidding for government work — a move President Thabo Mbeki’s government hopes will spur job creation.
Members of a joint parliamentary committee tasked with fine-tuning the bill overwhemingly voted in support of the legislation on Tuesday despite a series of amendments.
”This is a very important piece of legislation and we’ve now closed as many holes as it is possible to close,” Finance DG Maria Ramos said.
There had been concerns that an exemption clause in the bill would give the finance minister unlimited powers to exclude certain sensitive government departments from abiding by the bill’s requirements.
Last Thursday, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel asked that state institutions dealing with national security issues should be exempted from the proposed law.
Departments such as intelligence and defence could not be expected to fulfil most of their tendering process by going through young businesses, Manuel said.
State legal advisor Otto Kellner — helping in the drafting of the law — said the constitutional court will oversee decision-making that involves a possible exemption of a state institution from the bill’s ambit. — Reuters