Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille, says the department continues to work on paying suppliers on time.
“The department used to have more than 11 500 unpaid invoices over 30 days before the introduction of the Reapatala Tracking System by the Minister, and the Chief Financial Officer and his team,” De Lille said in a statement.
When taking office in June 2019, De Lille made the issue of late payments one of the top priorities, which is being rectified through the Reapatala system.
Reapatala (“we are paying”) is a platform where all invoices of the department are internally received and managed to ensure effective tracking of invoices to be paid timeously.
De Lille said the total number of unpaid invoices for more than 30, 60, 90 and 120 days, as at 15 February 2022, were all zero.
“The issue of late payments was one of the main issues I tackled when I took office in June 2019. At the time, there were 2 084 late payments on a weekly basis on the system, beyond the 30-day stipulated payment period.
“The DPWI and Property Management Trading Entity (PMTE), also under DPWI, handles and pays on average 858 and 11 300 number of invoices on a monthly basis respectively,” De Lille said.
In February 2022, the total amount of invoices paid by DPWI amounted to R874 million, while lease payments made in February 2022 amounted to R375 million. The total paid for invoices and leases for the month of February by DPWI was R1.2 billion.
“I have constantly stressed to the department the importance of paying suppliers on time, emphasising that this was not only a legal duty of the State but also to ensure that we pay suppliers on time, and ensure that they can keep their businesses running and continue creating jobs and contributing to the economy.
“The latest statistics are encouraging… [This] has been a priority for myself and is being meticulously driven under the leadership of DPWI’s Chief Financial Officer.
“I will continue to monitor this matter weekly, as I have been since taking office, to ensure that we at all times pay suppliers on time and resolve any invoice disputes speedily,” the Minister said.
De Lille said his department has also instituted consequence management for officials found responsible for late payments without good reason.
The number of consequence management processes implemented was for 166 invoices involving 180 officials between April 2021 and 28 February 2022.
Source: South African Government News Agency