Parliament, Tuesday, 22 September 2026 – The Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services has called on the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) to introduce a comprehensive pricing schedule, supported by proper market research, as a guide before procuring perishable and non-perishable food items.
The committee said that the department should establish the reasonable market price of goods before going out to tender. This would enable officials to identify and interrogate excessive quotations before contracts are awarded, rather than only correcting inflated prices after procurement has taken place.
Committee Chairperson Ms Kgomotso Anthea Ramolobeng said that formal pricing benchmarks would strengthen procurement controls and reduce the risk of inflated prices entering active contracts.
“Before procurement is undertaken, there should be some form of price guideline or market research in place. The department must know what a reasonable market price for a particular item is before it goes out to tender. This gives officials a basis against which to assess the prices quoted by suppliers,” said Ms Ramolobeng.
She added: “It does not make sense for something that ordinarily costs R200 in the marketplace to suddenly be procured at R2 000. Such discrepancies should be identified before the procurement process is concluded, not after the contract is already operational.”
The committee commended the price renegotiations and cost reductions achieved under the current five-year contract for perishable and non-perishable food provisions, but said the corrective action highlighted the need for stronger controls at the beginning of the procurement process. The committee is concerned that excessive quotations were accepted in the first instance.
The contract, which took effect on 1 April 2025 and runs until 31 March 2030, involves 115 service providers delivering 66 nutritional products across all six regions. The committee heard during a presentation that renegotiations on several items, including bread, flour, assorted spices, gravy powder and pan-release oil, affected 60 suppliers under Distribution and 80 suppliers under Warehousing. The contracts are reviewable every six months.
As part of the review of its procurement strategy, the committee wants DCS to assess whether appropriate price benchmarks are in place and whether they are consistently used when bids are evaluated and approved.
The committee also wants DCS to provide a comprehensive pricing schedule of all perishable and non-perishable food items, including the prices currently being paid for each item. This will allow the committee to assess the broader procurement picture rather than focusing only on items already identified as problematic.
Furthermore, Ms Ramolobeng said DCS must strengthen internal verification processes to ensure that pricing, quantities and product specifications are correctly reflected in contracts. She cited a discrepancy involving oil, where the contract pricing referred to one litre, while the intended supply was different. “Errors of this nature create unnecessary mistrust, particularly when they involve public funds. There must be proper verification of quantities, specifications and prices before a contract is approved and throughout its implementation,” she said.
The committee will require DCS to report on the recovery of funds paid under initial inflated rates, the status of referrals to the South African Police Service relating to suspected collusion, measures to reduce over-reliance on external consultants and consequence management where applicable.
The committee noted that food provisions account for more than R1.06 billion in annual expenditure, while DCS has projected an overall budget deficit of R749 million for 2026/27. It therefore emphasised the need for robust procurement controls to safeguard public funds.
“Price reviews during the life of a contract are important, but they cannot replace proper market research before procurement begins. The department must have a clear understanding of prevailing market prices and use that information to interrogate quotations before public funds are committed,” said Ms Ramolobeng.
The committee will monitor the implementation of the six-monthly price review mechanism and the procurement strategy review and expects detailed updates on pricing benchmarks, the comprehensive pricing schedule, fund recoveries, internal controls and consequence management during upcoming oversight engagements.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, MS KGOMOTSO ANTHEA RAMOLOBENG.
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