Johannesburg - Small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) sitting with unpaid government invoices exceeding 30 days have been urged to bring their plight to the doorstep of the Public Services Commission (PSC).
Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya made the call during a briefing of the commission’s quarterly bulletin in Pretoria earlier on Wednesday.
Gxoyiya made the call as he stressed that the commission was concerned about the National Treasury’s reluctance to provide them with data on the compliance of the 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, but we cannot be conclusive without engaging with them," he said.
Gxoyiya said that as a result of 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 the minister 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."
The National Treasury is still to respond to questions sent to them about the allegations of withholding information.
The Star