Pretoria – About 17 668 legitimate invoices to the value of R340 million have been paid to suppliers within the required 30 days, as at June 2016.
This follows the establishment of a special unit in the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) to tackle the problem of non-payment of suppliers within the required 30 days.
Briefing the media on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Chairperson of the National Planning Commission, Jeff Radebe, said the department and National Treasury have also devoted more resources to the effort of addressing the challenges of payment of suppliers.
“To this end, a walk-in-centre has been established at National Treasury’s offices to attend to supplier’s queries. Additionally, the department’s special unit and its partners are rolling out a targeted support programme to identify struggling departments to understand and address the challenges that lead to non-payment or late payments of suppliers,” Minister Radebe said.
During these visits, Minister Radebe said the entire value chain of payment of invoices is assessed, blockages are identified and departments are assisted with the implementation of improvements measures.
“Going forward, we will like to see a situation, where accounting officers must charge those affected officers for financial misconduct in terms of the PFMA (Public Finance Management Act) so that we can deal with this matter effectively.”
Cabinet also welcomed the Imbizo hosted by Minister Radebe on interventions implemented to fast track the payment of suppliers by government within the stipulated 30-day period.
The imbizo was held last week, in Kempton Park, to talk to small businesses about government’s progress in fast tracking payments and abiding with the 30-days payment policy. – SAnews.gov.za
