Gauteng Provincial Government the worst in the country for not paying suppliers in 30 days
14 October 2019
The Gauteng Provincial Government consistently fails to pay suppliers within 30 days as it is mandated to do by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
This was revealed by the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni while responding to the DA written questions in the National Assembly.
According to Minister Mboweni, Gauteng Provincial Government is the worst in the country in terms of not paying suppliers in 30 days for the 2018/19 financial year.
In 2018/19 financial year the Gauteng Provincial Government owed over R2,5 billion to suppliers for invoices older than 30 days and not paid by the end of March 2019.
In the first quarter of 2019/20 financial year the Gauteng Provincial Government owed over R1,5 billion to suppliers for invoices older than 30 days and not paid for the period of April 2019 to June 2019.
The Gauteng Department of Health is the worst offender in the province as it owed R2,5 billion in the 2018/2019 financial year and over R1,3 billion in the first quarter of the 2019/20 financial year.
It is unacceptable for the Gauteng Department of Health not to pay its suppliers within 30 days.
In terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), government departments are obliged to pay suppliers within 30 days of receipt of invoice – but adherence to this, particularly by the Gauteng Provincial Government, has been lacking for years.
The Gauteng Department of Health has years of unpaid accruals for suppliers not being paid yet nothing is done to ensure that they adhere to a 30 day payment system.
Failure to pay suppliers within 30 days is killing small businesses particularly in the townships as they are struggling to survive due to non-payment by government departments.
I will be tabling questions to the MEC for Health, Bandile Masuku to ascertain what measures the department is putting in place to ensure that they adhere to a 30 days payment system.
Where the DA governs in the Western Cape, we pay 99% of suppliers within 30 days. In both the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years, the Western Cape Government departments paid on average 99.4% of all invoices for goods and services within 30 days.
Issued by Mike Moriarty, DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Finance, 14 October 2019
