Outgoing Sanral CEO Reginald Demana Denies Personal Wrongdoing Over R9.5bn Tender Ruling

• Sanral CEO Reginald Demana faced questions at a media briefing about a court ruling that overturned a R9.5bn road maintenance tender
• Demana, who departs the agency at the end of August, rejected claims he personally benefited from extended maintenance contracts
• Sanral's chief legal officer attributed the tender's failure to irregularities in bid specifications, raising questions about internal procurement controls

SOUTH AFRICA — Outgoing South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) chief executive Reginald Demana has firmly rejected allegations of personal misconduct during his tenure, telling journalists at a media briefing on Tuesday that he never held individual authority over tender decisions.

According to the Sunday Times, Demana's remarks came in direct response to a recent court ruling that set aside a R9.5 billion routine road maintenance tender. The contract had been awarded to a panel of 20 companies before being declared unconstitutional by the court.

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The outgoing CEO, who is due to leave Sanral at the end of August, maintained that all supply chain management decisions were made either by the Sanral board or by committees acting under delegated authority. He specifically pushed back against suggestions that he personally gained from the extension of maintenance contracts, arguing that the six-month extensions were lawful decisions taken at board level.

Demana distances himself from tender decisions

Demana also acknowledged that the agency had not been adequately equipped to manage panel-based tender processes and confirmed that Sanral would revert to open, individual bidding going forward. He further called for consequence management to be applied where internal procurement failures had occurred.

Legal officer points to bid specification failures

Sanral's chief legal officer, Kaiser Khoza, offered a separate line of explanation, attributing the collapse of the tender to irregularities in the bid specification process rather than broader governance failures.

Demana argued that Sanral's willingness to conduct a self-review and concede its own flawed tenders in court was evidence of institutional accountability, and that the organisation was now better positioned as a result. SANRAL's legal troubles in 2026 include suspended employees taking the SOE to court over allegations of irregularly awarded tenders.

Businessman shares steps of getting tender

In a related article, Briefly News reported on South African businessman Reggie Mosia's advice on navigating government tenders without resorting to bribery. His insights have ignited a conversation among aspiring entrepreneurs, sparking both praise and scepticism on social media.

Source: Briefly News