Reflections on the Public Procurement Act ahead of the Constitutional Court challenge to its validity

It has been more than a year since the Public Procurement Act 28 of 2024 (Act) was passed by Parliament (16 May 2024) and almost a year since it received the assent of the President (18 July 2024). However, it has not yet come into operation as the President has not proclaimed a commencement date. Recently, the City of Cape Town applied to the Constitutional Court to declare the manner in which the Act was adopted as being inconsistent with the Constitution and as such, invalid. This article does not get into that application, but the application has made the Act newsworthy again. Riding the wave, we take a brief moment to look at the dispute resolution provisions under the Act – specifically how information disclosure could have an impact on judicial review proceedings.