Parliament, Wednesday, 7 October 2026 – Yesterday, the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition was briefed by the auction industry and regulatory bodies on the sale and disposal of South Africa’s strategic and productive assets and their impact on economic transformation.
In this regard, the committee engaged with the National Consumer Commission (NCC), the Competition Commission, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Commission, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJCD), the Master of the High Court and the Property Practitioners’ Regulatory Authority (PPRA), as well as the South African Institute of Auctioneers and the South African Professional Auctioneers Association.
The engagement highlighted issues relating to transparency and accountability, valuation and verification of ownership, the growth and regulation of online auctions, transformation and barriers to entry, foreign participation in the acquisition of productive assets, and the potential implications of asset disposals for domestic productive capacity, employment, industrial development and broader economic interests.
The committee called for urgent policy and regulatory reform to address longstanding concerns regarding transparency, competition and transformation in the appointment of auctioneers and the disposal of assets arising from liquidations, state procurement and asset forfeiture processes.
A particular concern is the considerable discretion currently exercised by liquidators in appointing auctioneers. While liquidators require sufficient independence to perform their statutory functions, this discretion must be balanced by greater transparency, disclosure of conflicts of interest and effective oversight. Recurring relationships between attorneys, liquidators and auctioneers can create closed networks in which the same parties influence the legal process, administration of insolvent estates and ultimate disposal of assets.
As an important transformation intervention, the committee supports the view that government should consider establishing an accredited panel of suitably qualified and experienced black auctioneers from which liquidators can procure auctioneering services. Such a panel, supported by objective qualification standards and a fair allocation or rotation system, would open opportunities to emerging black-owned auction businesses while maintaining professional competence and integrity. It also urged the Master of the High Court to strengthen its oversight over the appointment of auctioneers and the monitoring of the relationships between attorneys, liquidators and auctioneers as part of sales of execution, and the dissolution of insolvent and deceased estates.
The committee remains concerned about the disposal of strategic or productive state assets, such as industrial machinery, vehicles, property and other economically useful assets. Government should first assess whether these assets can contribute to industrial development, small business growth, transformation and the expansion of black-owned productive enterprises before auctioning these assets. A coordinated national policy is required to balance these developmental objectives with independent valuation, competitive processes and safeguards against patronage or abuse.
The chairperson, Mr Mzwandile Masina, said “South Africa cannot advance economic transformation while procurement of auctioneering services and asset-disposal systems continue to favour established networks and restrict meaningful market access for emerging black enterprises. Parliament is therefore calling upon, National Treasury, the DoJCD, the Master of the High Court, the B-BBEE Commission, the Competition Commission, the NCC, the PPRA and other relevant institutions to undertake a coordinated review of the regulatory framework governing auctioneering and asset disposal to strengthen accountability and economic transformation”.
He emphasised “At the core of the committee’s position is a simple principle: public and insolvent-estate assets should be disposed of through systems that are transparent, competitive, accountable and transformative”.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION, MR MZWANDILE MASINA.
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