Drawbacks of the Partial Implementation of Procurement Policies for a Sustainable Commuter Bus Industry: Case of South Africa

Abstract

For democratic countries like South Africa, public policies and regulations are critical, in addressing public problems. In such countries, policies are meant to create a favourable atmosphere for the provision of efficient public administration and development, whilst creating peace within the society. The commuter bus industry is no exception, and the implementation of its policies aims to provide transport services to the poor, plus socioeconomic objectives with the use of procurement. This is to open the industry to new entrants to the industry’s mainstream. According to the procurement policies these bus services should be procured through competitive tendering and negotiation. However, the key guiding procurement policies and regulations are partially implemented and that greatly affects the performance of the industry. This paper then seeks to highlight these policies and their impact to the stakeholders and the industry at large in South Africa. This paper adopted a qualitative single case study, using semi-structured interviews to explore the study objective. Twenty-three interviews were held with the participants in the industry to solicit their views on the issue of study. The findings revealed that to a great extent the partial implementation of the key procurement policies and regulations has contributed to the challenges faced within the industry, including limitations in the rollout of bus subsidies, lack of flexibility on subsidised routes, interim contracts made permanent and poorly bus services, to mention a few. The paper concludes with recommendation that the government can employ to address the identified challenges in the industry.