Assessment of Supply Chain Corruption in the three Metropolitan Municipalities in the Gauteng Province of South Africa

The aim of the current study was to assess the supply chain corruption in the three metropolitan municipalities in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. Core to the assessment was to establish the causes and ramifications of supply chain corruption as well as the nature and extent of supply chain corruption in the three metropolitan municipalities. In order to meet the objectives of the current the study, a qualitative research approach underpinned by ethics and accountability theories was used. The study employed interviews and observation as a primary source of data collection as well as document review in a form of government documents, legislation and court case decisions as secondary source of data, which were then thematically analysed. The study pointed out that while supply chain corruption certainly negatively affects the day-to-day running of public affairs, it is actually the collapse of ethical behaviour together with the failure to uphold accountability and consequence management that has created fertile ground for supply chain corruption. It further, purported that in order to combat the scourge of supply chain corruption in all its manifestations, there is a need to install a Central Supplier Database application, which has been sufficiently tested to determine its effectiveness as blacklisted companies and their directors have a way of masquerading in another form, to do business with the state. South Africa needs the embodiment of ethical behaviour from its citizenry, along with anti-corruption policy enforcement and consequence management. The Kanyane Ethics Architecture should be launched in municipalities across the board as a comprehensive and all-encompassing mix model to prevent supply chain corruption, in its various manifestations, from taking place