Gauteng entrepreneurs suffer great losses when government fails to pay them, but there is a fix
9 February 2022
Failure by Gauteng Provincial Government Departments to pay SMMEs has in many cases resulted in businesses shutting down and loss of employment.
This is very concerning as often some SMMEs will have to borrow money to timeously deliver on the goods and services they have tendered. Instead of being paid within 30 days or less, they often need to wait much longer than that whilst drowning in debt or having to delay paying their employees who are dependent on this income to put food on the table.
During a recent Portfolio Committee meeting I asked the Department of Provincial Treasury’s Head of Department (HOD), Ncumisa Mnyani, about the impact late payments have on the SMMEs that are dependent on government tenders to pay their employees. In her response she said they don’t as they have not done the research on the matter.
it is unacceptable shocking that the department which is tasked with a responsibility of making sure that all service providers are paid within 30 days does not know exactly how many small businesses are affected by late payments and how they are affected.