The Gauteng Provincial Government is the second highest in the country for not paying suppliers within 30 days, with the Eastern Cape in first position.
The amount owed by these two provinces is even higher than the amount owed by the National Departments combined.
This is according to the Public Service Commission (PSC) in a presentation to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s (GPL) Finance Portfolio Committee.
According to the PSC, in October 2019, Gauteng had 19 259 unpaid invoices older than 30 days with a value of R1 299 770 136.00. In November this increased to 19 997 and a value of R1 277 016 118.00 and in December, the number escalated to 20911 and had a value of R1 413 754 979.00.
The Gauteng Health Department is the number one offender in the province with 195 974 invoices older than 30 days; these have a total value of R13 337 443 961.00.
The Department of Infrastructure Development is the second worst offender with 1 574 invoices older than 30 days with a value of R864 852 029.00, is followed by the Department of Social Development with 231 invoices older than 30 days with a value of R3 328 866.00.
The Department of Human Settlements has 132 invoices older than 30 days not paid, the Department of Education has 60, the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation has 30 and the Department of Community Safety has 28 invoices older than 30 days not paid.