Minister Groenewald vows action against corruption in prison food procurement
Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald says action will be taken if investigations uncover corruption or wrongdoing in prison food procurement contracts after concerns emerged over allegedly inflated prices paid for basic food items within the department.
“If there was any wrongdoing, if there was any corruption or anything like that, surely I will act as a minister,” Groenewald said during an interview on 702.
The comments come after Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services raised concerns over food supply contracts after department officials were questioned about pricing discrepancies involving basic goods procured for correctional facilities.
IOL previously reported that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) defended paying R726.57 for cooking oil despite newly negotiated prices ranging between R26.00 and R29.00, saying the amount referred to a 25-litre container rather than a single litre and that the discrepancy resulted from a capturing error.
Parliament heard that the department had allegedly paid inflated prices on several food items. Figures presented to the committee showed cooking oil being billed at between R672.00 and R726.57, while gravy powder prices ranged between R2,538.00 and R3,735.32 despite benchmark prices being significantly lower.
According to the committee, the department would now save between R2,538.00 and R2,815.00 on gravy powder under newly negotiated contracts.
The previous price in Gauteng was R3,735.32 compared with a revised price of approximately R920.00.
The figures emerged during a recent meeting where officials were called to account over a controversial five-year food supply contract that came into effect on April 1, 2025.
Groenewald, however, disputed one of the figures that drew significant public attention, saying claims that the department had paid more than R700.00 for a litre of cooking oil were incorrect.
“The National Commissioner, who is the accounting officer, corrected the figure, for instance, on the oil. It referred to, as you said, up to seven hundred and I think sixty-nine rand. And it said there on the document one litre. It’s not one litre. That was a bit of an error. It was for 25 litres,” Groenewald said.
“Now if you take twenty-five litres, it brings it down to R50.00.”
He said it was unfortunate that the specific example was being used as proof of widespread inflated pricing.
“So that was said in the committee. And it is a pity that that specific example is now being used to say the inflated price and everything,” he said.
The minister also defended limitations on his involvement in procurement matters, saying legislation prevented political office-bearers from participating in tender processes before contracts had been awarded.
“The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) is very clear that no political office bearer, including ministers, is permitted to intervene or to be part of any tender process until everything has been completed and tenders have been allocated,” he said.
Groenewald said procurement concerns had already been under review shortly after he assumed office in July 2024 and that one of the first issues identified involved bread prices.
“What I did is that it started with the bread prices,” he said.
He said the department had been paying consumer-level prices despite purchasing in bulk.
“We paid a consumer price of R24.50 for a loaf of bread. I then said, ” But it’s totally unacceptable. We must get the best price to the benefit of Correctional Services and the taxpayers of South Africa,” Groenewald said.
According to Groenewald, bread prices were reduced from R24.50 to R15.00 following intervention, while the department’s bakery expansion programme had generated savings.
“On bakeries alone, we already saved the taxpayer R77 million,” he said.
The minister also pushed back against suggestions that the department had only recently discovered procurement concerns, saying reviews had started before the matter reached the Portfolio Committee.
“It had not only come out on that, it was before, but we then presented in June,” Groenewald said.
He added that officials were dealing with thousands of contracts across the department.
“It was said that we were talking about about 4,600 contracts. So it is an ongoing process.”
Questions were also raised during the interview about whether the department had considered legal action against suppliers or cancelling problematic contracts.
Groenewald said contracts could not simply be terminated immediately without due process and pointed to legal and administrative requirements that had to be followed.
“There are processes,” he said.
He said forensic investigations remained an option but cautioned that they needed to be justified.
“My principle is that, of course, if it is necessary, surely we will do it. But we must make sure whether we have a good case, because forensic investigations or auditing processes are very expensive. That’s taxpayers’ money,” Groenewald said.
The minister maintained that corrective action would follow if wrongdoing was identified.
IOL News
