Supplier payment ‘war room’ set up in Gauteng, says Nkomo-Ralehoko
The Gauteng provincial government says it is on a mission to ensure it pays suppliers on time.
This is according to the province’s MEC of Finance Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, who delivered the budget vote in the provincial legislature on Friday.
Nkomo-Ralehoko says the “war room”, which has been established to deal with the issue, has already begun its work.
“As part of the work of this war room, provincial treasury is already working with departments who did not achieve good results in paying suppliers within 30 days in the previous financial year. These are Social Development, Health, and Infrastructure Development.
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“We are intervening in these departments to resolve outstanding payments and ensure that going forward all our departments pay suppliers on time. This is important to support small businesses, particularly township enterprises.”
The Department of Health has been one of the main culprits when it comes to late payments.
Earlier this year, the payment problems led to a bread shortage at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto.
Patients at the hospital suffered through food shortages for two weeks, with nurses having to dig into their pockets to feed them.
