The Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces have failed to pay suppliers over R4.5 billion and R2.7 billion respectively within the prescribed 30-day period, according to the Annual Report on Late Payment of Supplier’s Invoices by National Treasury for the 2023/2024 financial year.
The number of invoices paid after 30 days by national departments in the 2023/24 financial year amounted to 108 917 invoices.
Additionally, 1 427 invoices older than 30 days, amounting to R53 million, were not paid by national departments by the end of March 2024.
The report highlights that some national departments continuously fail to submit monthly exception reports, with the worst performers being the Labour and Public Works Departments.
Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams expressed concern over the impact of late payments on small businesses.
Her spokesperson Cornelius Monama says, “When invoices are not paid on time, cash-flow and liquidity constraints threaten their very existence. This undermines their capacity to ignite economic growth and create jobs and sustains systemic patterns of economic inequality.”
“Collectively, the government shoulders the responsibility to create an enabling environment for small businesses to grow and thrive. Among other things, this requires that we pay small businesses on time for services rendered,” adds Monama.
The total number of non-payment queries received from SMMEs in the 2023/24 financial year amounted to 245, valued at R198 million. Of these, queries valued at R95 million were resolved by the National Treasury, while 52% of the queries, valued at R103 million, were escalated to provincial treasuries as they related to provincial institutions.
A majority of non-payment queries received in the 2023/24 financial year were related to provincial departments of Health, with the Gauteng Department of Health receiving the highest number of complaints.
National departments achieved an average timeous submission rate of 87% for the 2023/24 financial year. The report shows that national departments are responsible for 30% of invoices paid after 30 days and for 1% of invoices older than 30 days and not paid by the end of March 2024.
