The South African public procurement regime is marred by several challenges that manifest in a range of ways. Among these, corruption is the main protagonist. More concretely, the corrosive effect of corruption is immense, regressive and much decried by the proponents of a fair, transparent, equitable and accountable public tendering system. Like never before, the constitutional entrenchment of accountability and transparency has come under serious threat during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The countrywide surge in COVID-19 infections necessitated a rapid and emergency purchase of bulk essential medical equipment in an endeavour to save lives and livelihoods. For this reason, the government, through Treasury, had to develop an 'emergency procurement strategy' to guide the process. However, there has been a major blow in reported cases concerning COVID-19-related procurement corruption. One may argue that this was bound to ha