Transnet SOC Ltd. clinched the prestigious GIBS Logistics Achiever Gold Award (LAA) 2025 for its transformative e-Tender solution last night at a ceremony held at the GIBS Business School in Johannesburg. The award recognises Transnet’s role in setting a new national benchmark for public sector procurement through a fully digital, efficient, and inclusive system that actively drives economic transformation.
The e-Tender solution is a hallmark of operational efficiency, demonstrating a clear commitment to optimising procurement processes. This enhanced efficiency is matched by improved governance. The system includes an embedded audit trail, real-time reporting, and automated business rules that have driven a verified 40% reduction in irregular expenditure.
Since its implementation, the portal has processed over one million documents and enabled the strategic redeployment of more than 50 resources who previously were responsible for administrative tasks associated with the processing of tender documents, such as stamping, signing and filing to other value-adding areas of the business. Furthermore, the efficiency gains have directly contributed to substantial financial value, including R1.8 billion value delivery in the 2024/2025 financial year alone.
Transnet Group Chief Procurement Officer, Vuledzani Nemukula, explained that the e-Tender portal is a decisive leap forward from manual processes, replacing physical tender boxes and paper submissions with a cloud-based, secure, and transparent digital environment. “We have not had physical tender boxes at Transnet since October 2021. This innovation has fundamentally changed the speed and integrity of Transnet’s supply chain management,” he said.
Transnet’s e-Tender portal is more than a transactional system; it is a critical enabler of the knowledge economy. By centralising and standardising procurement data, the platform is laying the groundwork for a future powered by advanced analytics.
By removing the physical and financial barriers associated with paper-based tenders, the e-Tender portal has significantly increased accessibility for small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) across the country. “Furthermore, we have tailored our submission times to ensure SMMEs can make use of night-time data to upload large documents, saving them on additional costs,” he said.
The portal’s broad reach has already attracted over 30,000 suppliers, broadening the participation base and fostering accountability and public trust. Digitalisation levels the playing field, ensuring that geography and administrative complexity are no longer barriers to entry for SMMEs seeking to participate in the lucrative logistics value chain. This directly aligns Transnet’s procurement function with the national mandate of inclusive economic growth.
The success of the e-Tender portal is also a testament to the strategic partnership between the Group Chief Information Officer and the Group Chief Procurement Officer. Their collaborative leadership ensured that both procurement and ICT functions were aligned from the outset, co-owning the digital transformation journey and driving shared accountability for business outcomes.
According to Transnet’s Group Chief Information Officer, Pandelani Munyai: “This milestone aligns with Transnet’s broader ICT Digital Modernisation Strategy, which is fundamentally about transforming how technology supports operational excellence and business agility. Through business process automation, data-driven intelligence, and platform-based integration, we are not just digitising workflows — we are redefining how the enterprise operates.”
Munyai concludes: “Our vision is to make automation a catalyst for growth, where technology enhances human capability, accelerates service delivery, and strengthens Transnet’s competitiveness in a connected, data-driven economy.”
This partnership has positioned Transnet as a leader in public sector transformation, demonstrating how cross-functional collaboration can unlock superior value from digital investments. The e-Tender portal marked the beginning of Transnet’s digital transformation journey. The next phase of the programme, which is currently underway, involves implementing a comprehensive end-to-end digital solution. By automating manual steps in the procurement lifecycle, the new digital solution seeks to slash the procurement cycle time from approximately six months to a projected 43 days. This represents an impressive 75% improvement in turnaround time.
The system’s roadmap includes predictive analytics, real-time insights into supplier performance and pricing, and automated data cleanup and classification.
“This move towards data-driven decision-making ensures that Transnet remains agile, resilient, and at the forefront of logistics management, allowing us to transition from simply procuring goods to strategically managing our entire value chain with scientific precision,” said Nemukula.
“This GIBS LAA win is a tribute to our team’s vision to revolutionise public service through digital innovation. The e-Tender portal is proof that compliance and speed are not mutually exclusive. It is our commitment to building an agile, inclusive, and resilient supply chain that not only cuts costs but actively empowers thousands of black businesses and supports South Africa’s economic future,” said Nemukula.
Transnet is currently commercialising the e-Tender Portal, with plans underway to extend its services and governance model to other State-Owned Companies (SOCs), further solidifying its position as a digital leader in the public sector procurement.
