Johannesburg - The Public Service Commission (PSC) has called on small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) sitting with unpaid government invoices exceeding 30 days to bring their plight to their doorstep as it flagged the National Treasury's lack of openness.
PSC commissioner Anele Gxoyiya raised his concerns during a briefing of the commission’s quarterly bulletin in Pretoria yesterday.
Gxoyiya said the commission was concerned about the National Treasury’s reluctance to provide them with data on the compliance of government departments with the 30-day payment of suppliers.
“We must indicate that we are concerned as the commission that the National Treasury seems to be withholding the information now.
“We are getting the sense that there is something Treasury is concealing, however we cannot be conclusive without engaging with them,” he said.
Gxoyiya said that as a result of the Treasury's reluctance, they had tasked the director-general of the PSC to meet with the director-general of the National Treasury and, in addition, scheduled a meeting with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to raise this concern.
While that is ongoing, he called on SMMEs whose invoices had not been paid for a period exceeding 30 days to come forward with the information to any of the PSC's national offices spread across the country.
“We are of the view that reflecting and reporting on the compliance of government departments is part of us holding them accountable. Even if Treasury does not give us that information, you can come to us because we are doing this in the interest of accountability to the public,” Gxoyiya said.
He added: “We want a transparent and accountable government; hence, we are there as a constitutional body.”
Of the commission's work as of the end of June 2023, Gxoyiya said they had registered 184 grievances, including 114 carried over from the previous financial year.
Of those grievances, 13% were not properly referred, and 87% were properly referred.
Furthermore, he said grievances that were not properly referred were those that were either being dealt with elsewhere or those that were still not finalised at the departmental level.
Departments and organised labour were urged to consider mediation as an alternative means of resolving matters of conflict, as the commissioner advised this would be mutually beneficial for their relationship.
The Star