THE Gauteng department of health has not paid some of its service providers despite its claims over the weekend that it has splashed out millions of rands to rectify overdue payments.

MEC for health Ntombi Mekgwe boldly announced on Sunday that her department had spent a total of R4.4-million to settle the supplier debt and would use its resources more carefully to ensure that all their service providers were paid by the end of June.

However, Sowetan has established that there were some service providers that are yet to be paid. The department has now changed its tune, saying they had invoices that were still being verified.

Sipho Ndlovu, owner of KB Washroom, which provides hygiene services to 14 clinics in the province, said he was owed R2.9-million for services rendered since September 2010.

Ndlovu said: "We were shocked when the MEC announced that we were all paid, even though we were not. We have suffered a lot of financial losses because of this. I have employed 10 people. How are they going to feed their families if I don't get the money due to me?"

Another service provider, who wishes to remain anonymous, is owedR4.5-million, some of it dating back to 2007.

Tanya Vogt, the chief operations officer of the SA Medical Device Industry Association, said although the department had made strides to pay suppliers on time, not enough had been done to remedy the backlog.

"We have asked our members (the suppliers) to forward us their reports to check who has been paid and who has not. This issue has been a big problem for years. The government has paid some companies but this is not enough," said Vogt.

Gauteng health spokesman Simon Zwane said the outstanding payments could be from the invoices that were being verified by their supply chain unit. "Some invoices are still being checked for credibility and that process should be completed soon. It's a small number of invoices," Zwane said.

DA Gauteng health spokesman Jack Bloom said the non-payment was an administrative problem. "I know many companies that aren't being paid but they are scared of coming against the government. The money is there but the problem is managing it. We still have a long way to go," said Bloom.

Service providers can call 011-355-2222 to get the status of their invoices.

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Sat May 18 17:38:01 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 10, 2012

somaartakeit

and in the meantime there will be interest on these outstanding bills, these ppl are just too pathetic for words.
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Jul 10, 2012

Papage

They only paid their relatives and come on TV saying "We paid all our debts" they lied and Zuma must be a man, get rid of these stupid Officials, we are sick and tired of their lies
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