For nearly two months now, the entire country has been plagued by loadshedding. This has had a negative impact on our small business owners who are already trying to recover from the losses they suffered during the hard lockdown and the July unrest.
To add further insult to injury, the Gauteng department of health is taking very long to pay small businesses that provide services to the department. This means that they may potentially struggle to pay their employees on time because of this delay and may have to close their business.
According to the department, out of 122,018 invoices received for the 2021/2022 financial year, only 22,794 were paid within 15 days, and 99,227 were paid out of 15 days. About 62,235 invoices were paid out of 30 days.
This has resulted in R1,510 582,28 being paid in penalties due to the late payment of invoices to FNB (Medico-Legal Litigations), Telkom, Eskom and EMS (Standard Bank). The late payments of invoices put the delivery of services at risk, as suppliers may withhold their services until they are paid in full.
The DA will be putting pressure on all government departments to pay suppliers within 15 days, as is the current practice in the Western Cape. This will allow departments to negotiate an early settlement discount, and they will avoid paying an exorbitant amount in penalties.
Patrick Atkinson, DA MPL
READER LETTER | Suppliers must be paid on time
Image: 123RF / Andreypopov
For nearly two months now, the entire country has been plagued by loadshedding. This has had a negative impact on our small business owners who are already trying to recover from the losses they suffered during the hard lockdown and the July unrest.
To add further insult to injury, the Gauteng department of health is taking very long to pay small businesses that provide services to the department. This means that they may potentially struggle to pay their employees on time because of this delay and may have to close their business.
According to the department, out of 122,018 invoices received for the 2021/2022 financial year, only 22,794 were paid within 15 days, and 99,227 were paid out of 15 days. About 62,235 invoices were paid out of 30 days.
This has resulted in R1,510 582,28 being paid in penalties due to the late payment of invoices to FNB (Medico-Legal Litigations), Telkom, Eskom and EMS (Standard Bank). The late payments of invoices put the delivery of services at risk, as suppliers may withhold their services until they are paid in full.
The DA will be putting pressure on all government departments to pay suppliers within 15 days, as is the current practice in the Western Cape. This will allow departments to negotiate an early settlement discount, and they will avoid paying an exorbitant amount in penalties.
Patrick Atkinson, DA MPL
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Companies doing business with government are getting paid faster
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