The Public Service Commission (PSC) has announced that it will continue to monitor departments closely on their compliance with the 30-day payment period with any “non-compliance viewed as financial misconduct”. This is in support of the President Ramaphosa’s call to improve government’s performance in the area of payment of invoices of suppliers within 30 days.
Chairperson of the PSC Advocate Richard Sizani, said the PSC has noted the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this week at the SA Investment Conference in Soweto, for government departments to pay suppliers within 30 days with delight.
“This is because failure to pay suppliers has dire consequences for the sustainability of Small Medium and Micro Enterprises, impacts negatively on the government’s job creation initiatives, and compromises government’s performance and service delivery,” he said.
The PSC will intensify its efforts to encourage compliance by monitoring the quarterly reports from National and Provincial treasuries to identify the repeat defaulting national and provincial departments and engage with the Executive Authorities (EAs) and Accounting Officers (AOs) of the identified repeat defaulters to obtain reasons for the non-payment of suppliers, including summonsing of AOs.
Advocate Sizani said the PSC will also request information on measures put in place to ameliorate the situation, including consequence management to embed the constitutional principle of Accountability.
“In response to a PSC recommendation, the 30-day payment of service providers has been included in the Performance Agreements of Directors-General with effect from the 2018/19 financial year.
“The defaulting Heads of Department should be prohibited from being granted any performance rewards and the top ten defaulting departments will be named in the PSC’s Quarterly Bulletin
“EAs and AOs will also be held accountable a relevant Portfolio Committees at both national and provincial levels,” Advocate Sizani said.
Non-payment of suppliers is also in contravention of the Treasury Regulations and constitutional principles such as efficient, effective and economic use of resources, accountability and transparency.
The PSC has been monitoring government’s adherence to the payment of suppliers over the years.
“This monitoring process was conducted through hosting public hearings and engaging with defaulting departments.
“While there is progress on the payment of suppliers with certain departments/provinces that pay invoices timeously, a challenge remains with repeat defaulting departments/provinces that are stubborn and do not pay their suppliers,” Advocate Sizani said.
The PSC is an independent and oversight institution mandated to promote and evaluate the constitutional values and principles and ensure effective and efficient performance in the public service.