Gauteng Health fails to pay suppliers on time
7 June 2017
According to a reply from the Gauteng Provincial Treasury to a question asked by the Democratic Alliance, the Gauteng Department of Health takes, on average, 66 days to pay suppliers for work done. In monetary terms, this translates into R 4,3 billion in unpaid invoices and losses to companies.
Despite hollow commitments from both Premier David Makhura, during his State of the Province Address, and MEC Babara Creecy, during her Budget Speech, to put measures in place to ensure that the 30 day payment regulation is complied with, specifically at the Health Department, which remains a wholly problematic Department, the situation has not changed.
The failure by the Department of Health to pay its invoices within the stipulated 30 days, not only undermines Provincial and National Treasury regulations, but it also amounts to writing a death certificate for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) which depend on a regular and punctual income stream for the work that they do for the ANC-run Gauteng Provincial Government.