An assessment of green procurement practices in South African metropolitan municipalities

Abstract

The study sought to determine the extent to which green procurement is practised in South African metropolitan municipalities. The study found that there are mainly two categories of metropolitan municipalities namely, the older and younger ones. The older metropolitans use different policies to convey the green procurement discourse. Such policies include the Supply Chain Management Policies of the City of Cape Town and eThekwini; the Environmental Policy of the City of Cape Town, City of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni; Waste Management Policy of the City of Cape Town; and the Energy and Climate Change Policy of Ekurhuleni. Two metropolitans that had made significant strides in the area of green procurement are the City of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan. The City of Cape has developed an Information Guide on the Implementation of Green Public Procurement and the Nelson Mandela Bay has also developed the Green Procurement Strategy to be implemented by the city. Whereas the older metropolitans have made efforts to include green procurement in selected policies, the younger metropolitans are yet to do so. Regardless of the policy status accorded to green procurement by the older metropolitans, the study found that the implementation of green procurement through tender decision, call for tender and the actual procurement is not imminent as evidenced by over 70% of the respondents. This indicates a gap that exists between policies and implementation.