• ACTis has raised two flags for the GDE and placed two under monitoring.
• Institutional instability at the senior management level weakens continuity, decision-making authority and effective oversight. This may create conditions in which governance safeguards are more easily bypassed, and accountability is diluted.
• Governance weaknesses may be undermining procurement integrity and internal controls. The recurrence of linked entities across multiple contracts, combined with evidence of shared directorships and prior involvement in irregular contracts, suggests that the same network of actors may be benefiting from repeated awards. Rather than isolated incidents, procurement irregularities may reflect a pattern through which connected suppliers can secure multiple contracts over time.
• Obstructing accountability may allow procurement risks to persist without corrective action.
• Financial and procurement systems should be closely monitored, especially given that the GDE accounts for approximately 40% of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s budget.
• The impact of governance failures is significant. In late 2025, the Department reportedly failed to pay service providers supplying food to children under the School Nutrition Programme, risking service disruption.