Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille has revealed that she is implementing a Contract Management System, and a Consequence Management System in her department to keep track of payment to service providers.

This comes after she launched a full-scale investigation into The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s (DPWI’s) failure to pay 2 085 invoices from service providers within 30 days.

De Lille said nonpayment was unacceptable and warned that there would be consequences for individuals who failed to comply with the legal requirement.

Facilities management, which covers day-to-day and unplanned maintenance on department buildings, accounts for about 80% of invoices older than 30 days.

The DPWI explained that a Works Control System is used for managing major construction projects, and includes contractors and consultants.

“This, coupled with day-to-day maintenance are the core of the department and, together, they constitute 94% of the unpaid invoices. Other default areas relate to telecommunications service providers and car rental agencies,” the department revealed.

Reasons given for a delay in payments include processes conducted outside of Supply Chain Management, issues with verification and certification of work done, as well as late submissions of quotations.

However, De Lille said it was unacceptable, especially when the country’s economy needed strengthening.

She cited President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reply in the State of the Nation Address debate last year, in which he warned State departments that failing to pay suppliers within 30 days had a negative impact on small and medium-sized businesses.

“The President has called on us to serve. So, we need to serve for public good and, by extension, fix South Africa. The buck stops with us. We need to return to the Batho Pele principles,” De Lille said.