Suppliers to be paid quicker

A special unit has been established to ensure that suppliers who do business with government are paid within 30 days, provided a legitimate invoice has been submitted.

Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jeff Radede, said the unit is located within his department and is working with National Treasury and the Department of Public Service and Administration.
Minister Radebe was updating the media on the progress and challenges pertaining to the 14 priorities of government recently.

“A comparative analysis of national departments between 2013 and 2014 showed that there has been improvement in the average number of invoices paid within 30 days,” he said.
However, delays in payment were still a challenge with significant negative impact on small business, growing the economy and employment creation.

Presidential Hotline

Meanwhile, he said 94 percent of complaints and queries received from the Presidential Hotline have been recorded as resolved. The hotline has received 207 000 complaints and queries of which 35 percent are general queries and 65 percent of the complaints are about services. “The nature of the complaints that we receive mainly involve labour relations and employment, land and housing, local government, basic services and utilities, as well as crime and justice,” Minister Radebe said.

The Presidential Hotline provides a platform for people to lodge queries and complaints about the quality of services they receive from government.
“To date we have surveyed 23 000 people and the results suggest that on average 70 percent of people rate the service as good to fair and 30 percent rate it as poor,” he said.