Government has officially blacklisted 52 South African companies
The government has officially blacklisted over 50 companies from doing business with the state as part of its continued plan to clamp down on contractors who inflate prices, waste money, and fail to deliver.
On Friday, 27 March, the Minister of Public Works & Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, announced that a dozen companies had been added to the blacklist.
“The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has blacklisted a further 12 contractors since the start of 2026 for non-performance,” Macpherson said.
“This brings the total to 52 contractors who have been barred from doing business with the State. The era of inaction is over.”
In September, the Public Works Department blacklisted 40 contractors for corruption and non-performance, the first time in 20 years. Since 2002, only two companies faced such action.
In an interview at the end of last year, Macpherson explained that the government’s new plan to blacklist failing contractors is long overdue.
He added that it is a direct response to the frustration that South Africans have carried for years as they watch public building projects stall or collapse.
Macpherson described the initiative as a “decisive construction action plan” that aims to professionalise public works, ring-fence budgets, and bring digital transparency into the system.
He said the department is also going to put in place structures so that all professionals working on state projects are properly qualified and registered to ensure that what they say they can do, they can do.
Following the first batch of blacklistings last year, the minister said the blacklisting sends a clear signal that the Department is serious about acting against non-performance.
This also means that these contractors are now prohibited from bidding for tenders or being awarded work by the Department.
He said the plan aligns with his vision to ensure that the Department is a professional, highly functional delivery unit capable of providing high-quality economic infrastructure that will grow the economy and create jobs.
“The move to blacklist these non-performing contractors is exactly what we promised South Africans when I took office,” Macpherson said.
Database to name and shame companies that can’t deliver
He said that those who underperform or engage in corruption will be held accountable and removed from the system.
“The CIDB’s action to blacklist these contractors means we have put our words into action and sent a clear message: the days of impunity are over,” Minister Macpherson said.
“The fact that only two companies have been blacklisted since 2002 is completely unacceptable in an environment where construction projects remain incomplete or poorly built across the country.”
Macpherson said it undermined trust in the State’s ability to act decisively. “This is why we are turning over a new leaf by restoring accountability and cleaning up the industry.”
He noted that this ensures that public money delivers quality infrastructure that communities can rely on.
The minister also said the Department is refining its processes to ensure the blacklisting of non-performing companies occurs more swiftly and to recover money from contractors to safeguard public funds.
“Over the last year, we have worked to strengthen the Department by filling key vacancies, introducing new accountability mechanisms, and tightening our procurement processes,” he said.
Another one of these processes is to establish a new national database that names and bans contractors and consultants from doing business with the state who fail to deliver.
The minister noted that one major challenge is that contractors often reappear under new names or shell companies.
Macpherson said provinces themselves raised this issue, and the solution was found in Limpopo, which created a “restriction committee” to track individuals and companies that fail to deliver.
“They get added to the restriction committee, and that then gets shared with municipalities and other spheres of the state,” he explained.
All provinces will now be required to establish these committees, which will feed data into a central database managed by the Construction Industry Development Board.
Once flagged, “no arm of the state can or should do business” with those individuals or firms, and Treasury will also receive the list.
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